Rules On The Fly Rule

I see an interesting phenomena among children, childlike adults, and members of church league sports.  That phenomena is players making up rules as you go.  Just a few weeks ago, a couple of adults were arguing about who got to take the ball to start the next basketball game.  

Man 1: We get the ball because the team coming in gets it.

Man 2: Why would we do that?  We've never done that.  The winner always gets the ball.

Man 1: We've always let the team coming in get the ball.

Man 2: (Louder) No we haven't

...

I'm gonna stop there because I think you get the gist.

Sometimes this phenomena can be annoying, but today I saw my kids do it and I thought it was great.  Their mother made, and their grandmother taught them how to play, hopscotch.  Each time they hopped down to the end (number 9 on ours) they would run to the end of the room and then come back.  I thought this was great, because it meant more exercise, less fighting, and more diversion.  

So the take-away for this entry is: Making up rules on the fly can be a good thing, unless you are annoying.  Learn which one you are and act accordingly.