Having only one child has certain advantages,and not having to live with the constant bickering between siblings is one. However, as any Chinese student preparing for CET exams will tell you: "a coin has two sides."

The other side of the coin is that I have to wear two hats: the father hat and the brother hat.

I am by nature argumentative. Raised in the glorious Chinese tradition of absolute parental authority, I am unprepared for the challenges from a lowly offspring on anything from trivial to serious. Thus, heated exchanges are not uncommon between father and son.

Sure, long before he was born, I knew from academic experience that name-calling, nitpicking on areas not related to the issues, raving and ranting, and picking on innocent by-standers, will never win you any admirers, let alone the argument itself. But human nature being what it is, refraining from doing so is all but impossible.

My son, having gone to an elementary school and a secondary school both famous for producing eloquent students, has an upper hand on me in every argument. Moreover, in the role of a father, I have to set an example by not using four letters words even when the argument gets red hot. I can’t use expletive depletive on the usual relative, as that would be ludicrous. I can't swear in the name of the Holy, as we are both non-religious—but not necessarily atheists. Name calling only boomerangs onto myself, as we are blood related. So I am forced to stick to the issues. Of course, that does not mean I am beginning to win arguments.

My son is not the type that will give way simply because I am his father. (Luk Skywalker, I am your father!) He has long treated me as a brother, and I suspect the need to win an argument in his part is not just about making sure truth and justice prevail, but also about projecting his superiority over an elder brother.

In the role of a father, I could have easily quashed any opposition by putting my foot down. But in the role of a brother, I would have to abide by the rules of debate between peers. So it is from my son that I developed the habit of keeping issues to issues, and say, not attacking each other's math ability when debating about music, or bringing each other's moral character into question when arguing over when the stock market is going to crash. 更多信息请访问：http://www.engbus.cn/

You might be wondering what has all this got to do with "Look Ma, no hands!"You may look at it as being in keeping with the current trend of absurd and irrelevant titles, or you may try to form a mental picture of when such a statement is uttered and what is likely to happen next.