Because I Said So!

I'm a child of the Fifties and Sixties. Parents didn't aspire to be friends with their kids in those days, they were simply The Parents. And in my house that meant when my father said "Jump", all he wanted to hear in return was, "How high?"

I'm a questioner by nature, but whenever I'd question one of Daddy's edicts, he'd just level his vivid blue eyes on me and say, "Because I said so." It drove me nuts and I swore that when I had kids I'd never say that to them.

I didn't, either. . .until one day when my son was maybe eleven or twelve years old. He'd spent what felt like hours following me around the house, restless and bored and generally getting on my last good nerve. Finally, fed up with one "Why?" too many I snapped, "Because I said so!"

My inner teenager immediately started howling in horror for sounding Just Like Dad. But before I could so much as smack myself on the forehead my sweet baby boy blinked at me, said, "Oh. Okay," then wandered off to entertain himself.

And I realized that Dad had been onto something all those years.

How about you? Did you have a pet peeve with a parental edict that you swore you'd never do when you became a parent yourself? And how did that work out for you?