Had my wife said, “Wear your coat. It’s cold out,” Andrew probably would have said, “No.” And she would have said, ‘‘I’m your mother, wear your coat.” Then Andrew would have been sitting in the backseat, warm as toast, hating her, and not learning a thing. He would have been thinking, Okay, I’ll wear my coat, but only because you made me. Just wait until I’m old enough to decide for myself about wearing a coat! When little kids rebel, parents can quash the rebellion with a stern order and get good short-term results. But when kids hit adolescence and rebel, parental orders too often
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