Day 34

2010-08-03 20:07:54 -0400
Originally uploaded by Manpan915

Rules...

"Rules are made to be broken," a phrase that as a teenager I think I seemed to live by. Why is it that as soon as we are told not to do something we get this burning sensation to go do it as soon as possible!?!?

When I was in the classroom I was a firm believer in creating classroom rules together and never starting with "No" or "Don't." One year I even went all out and had only one rule in my classroom of 6th graders... Don't do anything that causes a problem for someone else. Yes I broke my rule of not starting with "Don't" but I wanted to try it out. The nice thing was if we had made a list of rules and something came up that wasn't on the list, the kid kinda had a point, however with my rule of Don't do anything that causes a problem for someone else I could simply say, "You are distracting me and that is causing a problem because I can't do my job." Of course I wouldn't recommend this for all grades but my 6th graders could definitely handle it.

I laugh at this sign every time I take Juno for a walk. At first I would walk by this house very quickly, not giving Juno time to even think about squatting in their lawn. I also made sure my poop baggies were in plain sight in case Juno did not read the sign...

Then one day I see the owner of this sign walking her dog across the street from my house. The dog does it's business and she walks away. I couldn't believe it! They expect their lawn to be clean and not disturbed yet they don't live by their own rules and respect other people's property!?!? Maybe the next time I walk by their house the little phrase, "Rules are made to be broken," just might come to the front of my mind...

For a good laugh click on "The 36 Rules of Life." I promise it will be worth it! :0)