A little boy does something his parents are not suitably impressed with. When he is reprimanded, his response is “but Thabo did the same” which is why he did it. He then gets – at least I hope he does - the relatively standard talk about how, just because someone does something, you shouldn’t do it. For example, “if Thabo jumped off a cliff, would you do the same?” As a child, I was on the receiving end of various derivatives of this talk, several times, and, as a parent, I often give the same talk. “Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a...