Reverse psychology is the practice of demanding someone not do what you want them to do.   Observation of basic human behavior has led people to believe this will cause the object of your demand to do just the opposite, which is what you want them to do.  And my own experience is it often works.

Humans love to want what they cannot have.  My parents recognized this and were open and helpful about letting their children access things that were not really bad but forbidden, things like alcohol, sex, drugs and roll n roll.  Most teenagers top four desires.  The idea being, you would learn proper respect for these things early on and then use them wisely.

Liberal Philosophy has it’s place

This early liberal education facilitated by my parents really worked.

For example, when I was thirteen or fourteen I had a party with eight or so friends.  My mom supplied the beer.  Enough for us to get heavily inebriated to the point of being sick and of course well hung over the next day.   My friends had slept over and as we sat down in the kitchen, Mom set a full plate of eggs, sausages, ham and bacon for us to partake.  Of course this just aggravated our already sorry state.

I did not really get it at the time, but this was a teaching moment, in a safe and nurturing environment. I survived but my lifelong respect for alcohol and appreciation for the value of using it wisely began at that early age.

Not Anarchy

No one who knows me well would classify my beliefs as liberal but I do recognize the value of balance between liberal and conservative practices and while there are definitely things that should have restricted access because of the danger they represent (e.g., heroin) there are lots of those other things that restricting their use until adulthood creates desires and opportunities for misuse more than anything else.

(N.B. – I have some good stories about sex, drugs and rock n roll too but I am trying to keep these posts G-rated.)