In article .com,
"L." wrote:

wrote:

This is something we don't hear enough about. That is, how exactly are
adults to balance the need to protect kids - since most molesters are
not strangers - with the undeniable need to teach kids to be respectful
and obedient, even to those teachers they hate and consider to be
generally unfair, since kids very often can't understand
teachers'/adults' rules anyway?

Obedient? To whom? The only need for *true* obedience is when
children are very young, and for safety issues. To me, obedience is an
absolute - "Do as I say" - mentality. I want a kid who can think for
himself, TYVM.

Not sure I understand what you are getting at here. I want my kids to be
respectful and obedient. I also want them to think for themselves. The issue
is teaching them when they OUGHT to disobey, and that judgement, IMHO, is
difficult enough for adults to make. A child is definitely going to find it
difficult to distinguish between disobeying a teacher because the teacher is
asking them to do something immoral, and disobeying because the teacher is
nasty.

I suspect that if you spend a lot of time emphasising disobedience, you will
just end up with a bolshy kid who knows all about his rights but not his
responsibilities, but I could be wrong. What do the people with older kids
think?

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue