House Rules vs. Universal Rules

Don't conflate them.

There are universal rules and there are house rules.

Universal rule: do not steal.

House rule: don’t put your feet up on the couch.

Universal rules never change. They are part of the bedrock of almost every civilization. 10 commandments-type stuff. House rules can vary from house to house, from town to town, from nation to nation.

It’s important to keep the two categories straight and never conflate them. Treating house rules as universal rules is the path to tyranny. You risk alienating your children or worse: turning them into little Pharisees.

House rules flow from the authority of the father and he has every right to make them, but he should not treat them as universal rules. A father should not place his whims, no matter how practical or useful, on the same level as a command from God Himself. A father’s authority to enforce that rule doesn’t extend outside his household anyway.

Here are some examples.