Every family runs on rules nobody ever announced. Norms aren't taught with a lecture, they're read, the same way a kid reads a room: tone of voice, whether beds get made, whether the table gets cleared. A survey of 24,000 parents found something backward, holding the line on household rules made parenting feel harder but made the relationship stronger. Your kids aren't listening to your rules. They're reading your room, and what they see becomes the norm they carry into their