A continuing series of Blog posts that are being moved here...
Please feel free to enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it ... For a change, I am mercifully brief!
We try to extend a liberal outlook into aspects of family life. Both Mrs Twigg and I believe in helping the kids understand why they should or shouldn’t do stuff, rather than simply telling them how to behave. Telling them never seems to work anyhow :(
As a consequence, there are very few rules in this house. Generally there are only two:
1. No writing on the walls
2. Obey all the rules!
Recently however, there has arisen the need for a third rule:
"Whatever you want to say, if it starts with the name of a brother or sister, we don't want to hear it".
Those blessed with just the one child might not readily see the imperative for this rule. I feel confident though, that parents of two or more children would agree that this rule ought actually to be hard-coded into the genetic make-up of all children. Quite frankly, the fact that it isn’t is ample evidence to disprove the theory of Intelligent Design.
“Michael hit me, Mom”, “Natalie bit me”, “Mackenzie said I am dumb” …. By the time breakfast is over, replying with “Not hard enough, apparently”, “Bite her back” and “Well are you? Okay then, ignore her”, is all wearing a bit thin.
It seems to me that Rule #3 is eminently sensible. I don’t, however, hold out too much hope for real success with it, judging by the amount of writing on the walls!
Later ….