Children of God

I'm reading for my psychology class today about the development of morals in early children. I found this interesting.
Piaget noted that young children have their design of morality around the concepts of rules that are established by an authority. They are absolute.
This makes sense if you 've ever tried to watch 2 young children play a game. "You can't to that...it's the rules." It also works if you are the authority. "Because I said so" is enough to get a response. It's as if in their little brains, it's not possible to be disobedient.
However the next step is for children to figure out that "rules" are flexible and don't necessarily have to be followed. Maybe this is where rebellion is developed. They see it is possible to not do it. "Mom says..." does not have the same effect it use to.
But Piaget's third phase of moral development happens when children develop playmates for cooperation. There is a morality of reciprocity and not just obedience.
This is when relationships occur. Children play and work together in ways, not because it is a rule, or because mom says,but because it enhances the quality of the relationship.

I recognize how much my faith has develops like this. How about you? We've all known new Christian who is so excited to learn and share all the rules?

You can't get drunk. You can't have sex. You can't tell lies. Why? Because God says so. It's the rules.
But somewhere down the line we figure out....umm, yeah, you actually can. You can do whatever you really want to, regardless of what God says. You don't have to be obedient.
But finally we begin to develop a relationship with Him, that is actually a relationship. It occurs if we learn the morality of reciprocity and not just obedience.
It's no longer about rules. It's about enhancing the quality or relationship with Him.
Interesting