The prompt - rules

The Prompt for this week from the lovely Sara at Mumturnedmom is a phrase and it is:

Rules are meant to be broken

This is one of those phrases which always makes me smile when I hear it. I have always been someone that belives in setting and following rules and I know that some people would rather there be no rules, so that we could all be free to do as we please, but when I think of a world with no rules all I can think of is complete anarchy!

The main problem that I can see with rules is knowing where to draw the line. For example, I think that rules such as people not being aloud to kill or steal in society, are of course very good rules that help to keep society functioning but the governments control can sometimes go too far such as fining parents for taking a holiday during term time. These types of rules are in my opinion taking things to far and they make it very difficult for people like me that would normally always stick to the rules in order to set a good example to my children. I took Faith out of school for five days last year for a very much needed family holiday which we would not have been able to afford if we had waited until the school holidays, Faith then had chicken pox earlier this year and we were told to keep her at home for five days until the spots had gone. She has also missed two single days where she has been genuinely ill and we have had so many letters complaining about Faith's attendance during that year and her end of year report came home last week with excellent grades and comments but they had actually written a D- as a grade for Faith's attendance. This really angered me as for a six year old to see that grade on her report card, she thought that she had done something really wrong bless her. I know of plenty of parents that hardly ever make sure that there children are in school and I also know of many parents that take there children on two week holidays during term time and I feel that although we broke the rules we are just doing the best for our family.


Anyway, back to the topic of rules, I believe that rules are necessary to a degree and I am the same with my parenting. I have always set rules and boundaries in my home as I believe that children need something to rebel against. I would much rather my children rebel against my rule of being in by a certain time by coming home ten minutes late then if there were no rules so they needed to do something like taking drugs to rebel and shock me. I try to be as balanced as possible and only enforce rules that are needed and whenever my children ask me if they can do something I try to take some time and think about their request from all points of view before making a decision so that I can be firm but fair.


Do you believe in rules or are you someone that believes that rules are meant to be broken?