The rules our parents make...

[carynb]

When do I stop following the rules my mother laid down when I was a child?

I'm not talking about the big "don't steal things", "don't hit people", and "say please and thank-you" - type rules that are generally accepted as, y'know, proper and civil behaviour. I'm talking the quirky little things that parents do to try to control their kids in some way.

For instance? One big rule in our house, growing up was "if you're too sick to go to school, you're to sick to go outside and play [or visit a friend, or go to choir practice, or anything else fun]".

So here I am at work. My head hurts, my ears hurt, my stomach's queasy, I have no voice - but I'm at work. Why? Because I want to go out to Cambridge to see my guy tonight, and if I don't go to work, I'm not "allowed" to go do something fun. Even if that something is "get to Cambridge, collapse into bed from the sick".

Isn't it weird, the way these rules your parents insist on just define the way you live your life?

Maybe I should just go home...

Comments

[carynb.livejournal.com]

Y'know, I always assumed that Mom had that rule in place to prevent us from playing hookie, but there was probably a little of this in the mix, too. Everyone on my street had kids who went to my school, a number of them in my grade, and I would imagine questions would be asked if I was seen to be out playing on a day I'd stayed home.