RULE TO BREAK

“Your parents are always right”

Here’s something that should be aimed at young people – but I have a sneaky feeling that lots of us go on needing to refer to it for a long time after we’ve left home.

When we’re young we assume (unless there are very strong reasons to the contrary) that our parents are perfect. We may not like the rules and boundaries they set, but we figure they must be right. As we move into our teens, we start to notice that some of our friends’ parents are really quite different from our own. But there’s still an underlying feeling that ours are probably the ones who’ve got it right.

Think about it. From as far back as you can remember, your parents have been practising being parents. They’ve had a lifetime ...

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