Because I said so....

"Because I said so" I yell down the stairs as my 6 year demands to know why he has to pick up his room when his little brother messed it up.

I find myself saying that ALOT....my 6 year old it seems has decided that he must challenge anything and everything I say. So, I have resorted to the age old adage "Because I said so..."

When I was growing up my mom said that all the time. As I got older I realized that my mom only said it because she couldn't come up with a justifiable reason for why I could or could not do something. Which in turn made me more defiant. My mom told me one day I would grow up and have kids of my own and...you guessed it...put the "mother's curse" on me...she destined me to have children that would be worse then me...

Years later I look back at all those times my mom said "Because I said so" and then compare myself to her. Is "because I said so" really a valid reason for making my son pick up a mess that a 2 yr old made? (I DID make the 2 year old pick it up as well...but we all know how 2 yr old and messes relate....*sigh*)

I start to doubt my parenting skills and wonder if my mom was right. Then I catch my 6 year old attempting to slide down the stairs on a flattened box....

Do I tell him the undeniable dangers of doing that? IE:Broken bones, Cuts, stitches, a trip to the ER?

Naw. When he questions Why mom...I simply say

Because I said so and send him back downstairs to clean up the legos that his brother just dumped out