"Mom, you can't control other people, you can only control yourself." Mom was both very pleased and somewhat stymied by this statement from Nigel today. She had been using those words to encourage him not to try to control other children's behavior when playing together, but like most things parents say, it got adopted by him for his own use. He had a point, of course, and that pushed Mom to get deeper into actions and consequences, acknowledging that he was correct, but that if he did not (complete the action she was asking of him), there would be consequences.
(P.S. The details of what was being asked are relatively unimportant, something like being asked to change into pajamas before bed. The consequence may have been not reading stories before bed, or something similar. The significance was really in his identifying a person's attempt at controlling another's behavior, which leads to looking at such relationships on a deeper level than just emotional manipulation.)
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