Eventually I would want to be explicit about this, but you’re right that there’s an age at which a kid is old enough to use your approach and being explicit would get you into “But Papa said if I think rules are stupid I can ignore them!”
Also there’s some slippage here -
A—Kid can ignore rules if I, Dad, think the rules are stupid (among other considerations)
vs.
B—Kid can ignore rules if she, kid, thinks the rules are stupid (among other considerations)
It’s hard to be explicit about A without implicitly giving permission to do B, which I don’t want.
Eventually I would want to be explicit about this, but you’re right that there’s an age at which a kid is old enough to use your approach and being explicit would get you into “But Papa said if I think rules are stupid I can ignore them!”
Also there’s some slippage here -
A—Kid can ignore rules if I, Dad, think the rules are stupid (among other considerations)
vs.
B—Kid can ignore rules if she, kid, thinks the rules are stupid (among other considerations)
It’s hard to be explicit about A without implicitly giving permission to do B, which I don’t want.