This study investigated 4- to 9-year-olds' understanding of social rules and authority by asking them about stories in which the status (adult or child) of rule inventors, transgressors, and changers varied. Findings indicated that children considered children's transgressions and alteration less permissible than adults', and adult-invented conventions less alterable than child-invented conventions. Children's alteration of adults' rules were thought almost as illegitimate as alteration of morals. (Author/KB)