On the way home from a funeral today Nathan and I stopped for lunch. Today’s USA Today sat nearby. I picked it up and found Craig Wilson’s piece, The Final Word uproarious if for nothing else the memories flooding my mind. How about this for a teaser,

Even I knew not to ask a follow-up question when those four words (Because I said so!)

As I grew older, I went back and forth between two schools of thought.

One: I would never use "Because I said so!" on my children because I hated it so.

Or: I would use "Because I said so!" on my children all the time and enjoy it immensely. were uttered. And for that, I hated the phrase. It rendered me powerless, ending my press conference.