We should just flat-out tell kids as soon as they are old enough to understand it, "Some rules are made to prescribe ideal…
We should just flat-out tell kids as soon as they are old enough to understand it, “Some rules are made to prescribe ideal behavior in individual people, some rules are made to modify real behavior in the average person, and most rules exist to make things simpler and easier for the person that makes the rules.”
or, a simpler way of putting it, “Sometimes rules are saying exactly what a person should be doing and you won’t be safe/won’t be successful without following the rule. These rules can only be broken in extreme circumstances OR if you understand what will happen, WHY that will happen, and are ready to deal with the consequences.
"Other rules are meant to change the amount of people doing something, or change the kind of person that is doing something. It’s not actually expected that everyone follows the rule, only that people will break the rule in smaller numbers or only if they have a "good reason” for it. Some rules like this have no consequences, they are just describing what someone would really like you to do, even if that person has no power to make you do it or cause consequences if you don’t. Some rules like this are a kind of secret handshake where you are supposed to be able to figure out that you’re supposed to break the rule if you’re the right kind of person. Some rules will only have consequences if you get caught, and sometimes it’s so easy to not get caught that no one faces consequences unless someone is specifically trying to catch the person breaking a rule.
“Everyone will tell you that all rules are the first type of rule. They are lying, and it’s very important you know that they’re lying, because you will need to break rules and you will need to be safe while doing it.”