So, tonight our Family Home Evening was a review of our Family Laws, which were composed when the kids were 6 months, 2, and 4 years old, and which need review and minor adjustments pretty often. We thought that our 7-year-old, and maybe our 5-year-old were ready for the notion that actions can have both natural consequences and consequences imposed by an authority of some sort. We chose what seemed like a simple example–driving through a red light (natural consequence: accident, imposed consequence: ticket). The following discussion ensued:
\n
\nDad: “What could happen if you drove through a red light?”
\nPeter: “Well, I wouldn’t be driving, because you have to be 16 to get a learning permit, and I’m only 7 and 7 plus [long pause, much finger counting] 9 makes 16, so I can’t even start learning to drive for nine years and then I think it’s half a year before you can get a regular license…”
\nMom: “You’re right, Peter, just *imagine* that you drove through a red light someday.”
\nPeter: “Well, I wouldn’t do that, unless maybe I was a firefighter or a policeman, because they’re allowed to drive through red lights…”
\nDad: “Right, but just think about if a regular person drove through a red light.”
\nLouisa (5): “They might get in an accident!”
\nMom (aka the Grammar Sheriff): “That’s right, he or she might cause an accident.”
\nPeter: “Yeah, but they might not.”
\nDad (aka Very Bad Person who does not care about the finer points of grammar): “Right Peter, they might not get into an accident, but what else could happen?”
\nPeter: “Well, they might get a ticket, but only if a policeman saw them. And also, what if it was in the middle of the night and the light was broken? Then they would have to go through the light, because otherwise they might fall asleep in their car, and that’s worse than driving through a red light–well, it’s dangerous, anyway–and then I don’t think the policeman should give them a ticket, because they were *trying* to choose the right…”<\/p>\n
I often joke that my firstborn was specially sent to help me gain a greater appreciation for Elder Packer’s approach. I’m half kidding, but I really do find myself much less a fan of free agency, dialogue, and gentle persuasion than I was when I was 20. So I wonder, how do the rest of you find what you thought to be fundamental philosophical commitments changed by close encounters with small humans? Or just by growing older? Is this progress towards wisdom, or merely the sad tale of idealism beaten out of us by cold experience?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So, tonight our Family Home Evening was a review of our Family Laws, which were composed when the kids were 6 months, 2, and 4 years old, and which need review and minor adjustments pretty often. We thought that our 7-year-old, and maybe our 5-year-old were ready for the notion that actions can have both natural consequences and consequences imposed by an authority of some sort. We chose what seemed like a simple example–driving through a red light (natural consequence: accident, imposed consequence: ticket). The following discussion ensued:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mormon-life"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5966,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481\/revisions\/5966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}