Response to Jenny's Question on "because I said so"

I feel that when parents say “because I said so” it is because they do not have easily accessible reasons for asking the child to do something. They may have reasons and these reasons may be legitimate but the parent is unable to quickly articulate them. This is not positive for the children because they do not learn why they should or should not behave a certain way; they only learn that they must obey their parents. If I told a child all the time that they could not eat candy because I said so, they would not learn that it is bad for their health. Then when they leave the parents authority they are likely to rebel against that authority and eat candy all the time. If I had taught the child that they should not have candy because of their health and encouraged them not to make that decision, instead of demanding it, they would probably do so less in the future. This is why it is beneficial in the long term if parents refrain from the “because I said so” argument.

 In the case of religious teachings, we cannot know God’s thoughts and are of course getting a man made interpretation. People should still have a reason for acting the way they do, but if their reason is that God wants them to than that is their decision. I am inclined to believe that children should not be forced to acquiesce to parent’s religious beliefs. Doing so does not make the child believe and may make them resent the religion. It would be best if parents exposed children to their religious belief, but allowed the child to choose whether to believe once they were old enough to do so. This would probably be difficult for many parents to do if they are strong believers. They would want their child to have a good life and afterlife and may believe that this is only possible through religion. These parents should remember that people are more likely to enjoy and stick with practices that are not forced upon them.

Do you find that people are disinclined to like things that are mandated, for example classes in school, or do you think you would enjoy some things no matter how you are introduced to them?