Chapter 19 - The rules
Ryan and I wrote five rules.
Not legal contracts.
Family boundaries.
One: No jokes where a child’s distress is the punchline.
Two: No food-based humiliation or forced eating beyond ordinary parental rules.
Three: No comparing Lily and Ethan as evidence of character.
Four: If Lily says stop to tickling, teasing, or unwanted physical affection, stop.
Five: No adult family group discussing children contemptuously as entertainment.
Melissa adopted the same rules for Ethan.
My parents complained about rule five.
“We should be allowed to talk privately.”
“Yes,” I said.
“Then how can you regulate it?”
“I can’t regulate private thoughts. I can regulate what reaches the children and whether I trust people who build contempt privately.”
Dad said:
“That’s thought police.”
“No.”
We ended the conversation.
May you like
Rules are not useful if every one becomes philosophy seminar.
Behavior first.
