Because I Said So.

From the other room I just overheard my husband explain to my son that cats don’t like to get stepped on.  Why do some things need to be explained?  This reminds me of conversations (tiffs, spats, arguments) I’ve recently had with our other son whose store of knowledge exceeds his parent’s by the same great volume that other fifteen-year-old’s knowledge exceeds their parents’.  You get the picture.  It seems that whatever the issue, my logic just just isn’t up to par.  Any parent of a teenager knows that most conversations go something like this: “Why do I need to get dressed if I’m not going anywhere?”  Never thinking of a good answer such questions I respond something like, “Because you have to get dressed everyday.  That’s just the way it is.”  To this he might reply, “That’s not a reason.”  I then might hear that I refuse to discuss such questions because my logic can not match his.  That is probably true, but I’ve come to accept (and he must also) that I don’t need logic because I have authority.  Authority is the parent’s trump card, used universally by those unthanked and worn-down folk who financially support and morally guide the teenagers in their midst.  When all else fails, we pull out our final card and say, “Because I said so.”  That answer will have to suffice until they have kids of their own and put it into use for themselves.