Your child may not experience himself or herself as ‘subject to authority’. He or she may not have invested in a system wherein they defer to authority. How do we recognize that in a child?
Everywhere they go they act as if they ‘own the place’, they are free and uninhibited which has its charms but, they are ill equipped to negotiate our complex world and so must defer to authority under some circumstances (don’t we all?.) Intuitively, children know that under some circumstances, it is in their interest to defer to authority. Exercises may be designed to reinforce your child’s intuitive sense that it is often wise (and safer) to defer to authority:

• Make a list of many things your child likes to do such as ; unbuckling his or her seatbelt when they arrive somewhere, going to the refrigerator to get a snack, going to their friend’s bedroom when visiting,
• Catch the moment they are about to do so and act and use permission-giving language

“You can have a snack now, Johnnie.”

“You can go to Susie’s room now, Johnnie.”

“You can unbuckle your seatbelt now, Johnnie.”

• Do this ten times a day with a smile.

Psychologically your child will experience him or herself as ‘subject to authority.’

• It is not only painless, it is attractive (he/she wants to do theses things.)
• The frequent use of their name simultaneously impacts the evolving ‘self’ concept.The science: The pattern recognition function of the brain notes ‘order’. Directive language is authoritative. Frequent use of authoritative language is neccessary for a pattern of ‘I am subject to authority’ to emerge. If 9 times out of 10 subjecting him or herself to authority is asociated with positive experience, then the pattern is easily imbedded. Once the pattern, “I am subject to authority” is imbedded you can exploit the presence of the pattern, relatively infrequently, to present a demand that they perform acts that they would otherwise resist.