“You know better.” The familiar expression communicates that our speech or behavior is beneath what we have been taught. Those three words summarize the expectation that we stop what we’re doing immediately and get our act together.

Their pointed fingers and furrowed brows prove this is not the first time our parents have asked us to reconsider our actions. Their head in their hands to hold the sigh that will follow a call to self-examination and a test of our memory. “You know better” is often followed by the behavioral imperative “so act like it.”

“This is not the way you were raised. This is not the expectation we set in our home.”

“This is not what you saw growing up. This is not what you were taught.”

We associate this knowledge with age. We are old enough to know better, though I’m sure you know a few old fools. 

Still, we expect it of the eldest child. Because “you are too old for this.”

There is a cut-off age for foolishness. There is an age of accountability, which usually begins with another child on the way. 

Your mother’s belly is getting bigger, and your time is running out. “Put this childishness away. Clean up your act.”

“You know better.” We are convinced their actions are not a reflection of their intellectual capabilities. It is a call to personal responsibility. 

It is a reminder that there is a difference between right and wrong; there is no gray area and no blurring of the lines. The phrase asks us to consider what our teachers have taught us. It’s a pop quiz on the lessons we’ve learned at our mother’s knee and on our father’s lap.

Maya Angelou said, “Do the best you can until you know better; then when you know better, do better.” 

We know better. We know an insurrection when we see one, and this is not the first one. Some of us know about the