Thursday, April 1, 2010

The No Contact Rule

N & P got into one of their typical arguments this morning. Each one convinced the other had started it and was primarily at fault. It made me think of the "no contact" rule in sailboat racing: regardless of what other boats do in a race, each boat has to do everything within its power to avoid contact. Even if another boat breaks the rules and gets in their way, if there is a collision that was avoidable, the boats that could have avoided the collision are disqualified - even if they did nothing else wrong. A boat that has to change its course to avoid contact with a boat that is fouling them can later ask the race committee for a redress, i.e., compensation for the time they lost avoiding the other boat.

I told the kids I would apply the same "no contact" rule to them: no matter what one of their brothers do, they must avoid a fight at all costs. They can come to me or C for "redress", but if they get dragged into a fight, they will be at fault too.

I love sailing analogies! I hope this made sense to non sailors...

1 comment:

Chris said...

In bike racing, the unwritten rule is that you can't take your hands off the handlebars. That pretty much limits contact to the occasional hip check or in extreme cases, a head butt, but guys have gotten disqualified from the Tour de France for that.

Good concept though - I'll remember that one for the future!