You are right. We actually gave all of this some thought before we posted our Nine Rules. Here are some of the possible rules one could follow that did not make it in to the Nine Rules.
1. If you can't see it from the road, don't wear it. Believe it or not, this is actually the slogan of a local jewelry vendor. From the looks of their products, they believe it. When sending a daughter off to college, there is little or no point in suggesting what she should or should not wear because she is going to wear whatever she and her friends think is cool. More important, I am not sure that the ability to see it from the road is exactly what we are going for in daughters. Don't waste your time on rules about how a youngster should dress. Save your energy for the important stuff in the Nine Rules.
2. Do as I say, not as I do. You better be ready to practice the Nine Rules yourself if you are going to have any hope that daughter (or anyone else) will pay any attention to them. Indeed, if you read about the Nine Rules, you will see that they apply to all sorts of life situations. Take Rule 1 for example. Stay out of jail and your kids have a shot at following your lead. Land in jail and try and get out before you have spent an evening as a guest of the state and your kids have a pretty good chance of following that lead as well.
3. If you can't beat them, join them. It is important to be competitive and that is embedded in several rules including Rules 6 and 8. It is not important, however, to join the enemy after the competition. Whatever it was that made them the enemy in the first place is still making them the enemy after the competition. If you can't beat them, keep trying and improving until you can beat them or move on to a competition at which you can beat them would be a better, although long-winded, rule.
4. You can't beat City Hall. Again with "can't" and "beat" in the same sentence. These are not good thoughts. You can beat anyone if you find the right game and get good at it. See Rules 6 and 8. That could be another, less verbose, addition to the Nine Rules.
