Lack of foresight...

"Imp, what are you doing?"

"Going up and down the hall..."

"Are you supposed to be doing that?"*

"No..."

"Then why were you doing it?"

"Because I want to."

"Are you supposed to be doing that?"

"No..."

"Do you want to get in trouble?"

"No..."

"Will you keep doing it?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I want to."

"If you do it again, you will spend the day in your room by yourself with the door shut.  Are you going to keep doing it?"

*sigh*  "No..."

What he means by "no" is "not right now."  He'll forget in an hour or so--he always does--and he'll get sent to his room for the day, to play by himself.  Like always happens.  

I am so tired of dealing with a total lack of logic, a disregard for the rules of the house, and complete shock when I punish the kids for breaking the rules.  It's expected, right now, because they're only five and three. 

No, the problem is that I see the same behavior traits in eighteen year old kids, in young people in their twenties and thirties, and adults in their forties and fifties.  I see these behavior traits in my students, in my classes.  "I turned my paper in late because *insert random pathetic excuse here* and I want you to take it late because I want you to.  I don't care that it's against your rules."

I don't know if it's a dearth of parenting, or a complete and total lack of ability to predict the consequences of a choice/an action. 

It's why we have a drooling moron for VP, and an anti-American, cock-riding, vapid twat in the White House.  It's why I see so many on welfare with tattoos, or so many with debt that could be half wiped out by their tax returns spending said tax returns on unnecessary luxuries (do you know how many iPhones I see in my classes, while my students whine about never having money?).  It's why we had such a thing as a NINJA loan, why so many adjustable-rate balloon mortgages were taken out.  It's why we had so many foreclosures.

This behavior is expected in small children that haven't quite grasped cause and effect, or how to predict the results of a choice or behavior. 

I am sick unto death of seeing the same behavior in adults.

*It's against the rules for the imp to simply wander up and down the hall.  He has a tendency to shove his sister when he's doing this, or simply run over her.  Not to mention that it's irritating as hell.