Do the kids tell you the rules?

[Ellibam]

bath dont take that to personally i think we all want to do thing better then our mums but then once we have kids we realise its damn hard work!

yes i expect makon to pick up on our naughtys to(although im trying to get ben to stop saying naughty)

but i also wont tell makon off for swearing because we are where he got it from( we are potty mouths) although i will be starting to tell him soon that thos ewords are not good words and that mummy and daddy say them some times when we are angry but makon doesnt have to use them. or something along those lines.

we dont have a lot of rules but those we do makon can pick us up on to!

[canberramomma]

It's gotten to the point at our house where I have to tell DD#2 not to 'parent' the younger kids so much as she gets herself in a state and she's still learning too!

[Rouge]

What a great idea

Yep we do exactly the same (of course!) and have done so since Paris was a toddler. It hasn't got annoying. I guess because we've told Paris there is a way to say something and a way not to. If she's being sarcastic or rude about it then no thats not ok. But sometimes even adults need a reminder about their behaviour and I am happy for her to give me that reality check should I need it

[meow]

I like questioning rules too... at my last work for example they had heaps of stupid rules which I was learning (after school care). The children would tell me them and then I would ask why they had that rule. They wouldn't know! Drives me crazy- you can't live life with rules that you don't understand what they're there for.
So I'm all for including children in understanding and enforcing 'rules'- shows that they are just as important as everyone else. I also annoy my coworkers at work by not allowing them to break the rules that they enforce on children- I think it's really rude otherwise.

[C~Q]

Yep! When DH or I say a naughty word (not too naughty, like shut up, damn, bugger etc) and the kids happen to hear they say "Hippoptomus" and we apologise! Also at the table if one of the kids see us using bad table manners then we give them 20c. DS is constantly on the lookout "Mum, elbows on the table - 20c please"!

We don't let them do the table manners thing when we have guests over though, I have told them that other peoples table manners are not their concern.