Why should I obey you, Mommy?
Kelly Mills, the SF Chronicle’s baby blogger, is now dealing with a six-year-old who appeals to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to protest parental privileges being withheld from children, specifically six-year-olds. She points out her mother’s hypocrisy and responds to her mother’s commands with, “Or you’ll do what?”
Most significantly, this six-year-old girl asks her mother, “Why?” Her mother admits, “The problem with this question is that often the truthful answer would have been, ‘because that sounds really, really inconvenient for me’”
Here are some answers I wish I could give to the question of why my child should obey me:
1. Because I follow that rule too. I’m not a hypocrite. It’s a good thing to do, and I do it. Or, it’s a good thing for six-year-olds to do. I did it when I was six. Or, I should have done it when I was six. I would have been better off.
2. Because it’s right. It’s not merely convenient for me. It’s honorable and noble and someday you will learn to do what’s honorable and noble even when it’s not pleasant or convenient. If I wanted convenience, I would give in to your whims and save my breath.
3. Because there will be consequences if you don’t. And if you don’t see the natural consequences to putting yourself higher than the authorities over you, you will later. If you don’t see the consequences now, I’ll come up with some consequences real quick. I’m creative.
4. Because in the real world, you can’t get everything you want. If you don’t learn delayed gratification, you won’t know true gratification. Sometimes I tell you No simply to give you practice in hearing it. Because I love you more than almost anyone else in the world.
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