Idle words

Yesterday (as usual) Elisabeth and I were in the park. Since it was a non-school day, there were many bigger kids on the playground than normal. One of those bigger kids, probably about 9 years old, was climbing up the slide while other children were going down. His mother called out,

Go up the stairs!

He continued up the slide, and the mom went back to her conversation with another mother. That boy just learned that his mother's words are idle. She didn't really mean it; she didn't expect him to obey. If she had, she would have enforced it. And so the pattern is set that will perpetuate throughout life - and when he reaches his teenage years, she will be baffled that he won't listen.