Week 2

This week in class we talked about family boundaries and rules. We took half of class and talked about the unwritten rules in our families. One of the unwritten rules in my childhood home was we are not allowed to mow lawns or play outside while mom and dad are gone. We took care of mowing our lawns as well as our elderly neighbors around the age of 12. By then our parents thought we had enough common sense to not run over the garden hose, or extension cords that ran from one end of the yard to the other... little did they know that we tagged along with our older siblings to the next door neighbors to get tricked into mowing the back lawn where our parents couldn't see us. At first we thought it was fun, but as we got older and the long hot summers seemed to drag on we didn't like it so much. I remember one weekend we wanted to get the lawns done so we could have more time to play on Saturday. That Friday after school we got right to work in the back yard. Mom and dad had taken off quick when he got home from work so they could get home earlier to bed... And they did. They came home to us four girls, ages 16-10, over at our legally blind neighbors house in the front yard, mowing at dusk. They called us home, which was just across the street, and gave us a talking to. We all had no idea they left, and they had no idea we were mowing lawns. They told us not to mow or play outside while they were gone again. They said, "What would've happened if one of you needed to be run to the hospital? There is no one here to drive you anywhere." So we learned our lesson even though we didn't know we were doing the wrong thing.
Unwritten rules remind me of the rules we forget to tell our friends as we are teaching them a new game. They have no idea what they did wrong, but now they feel a bit dumb.