I Knew That and It's Not Fair

My house, and probably yours, too - if you happen to live with a four year old, is an unending chorus of "I already knew that" and "It's NOT Fair!". The former is generally used to mean "I'm ignoring you" and the latter is used to mean "I don't like it". As in...

Connor, you need to get your swimsuit on so we can go to the pool.
I already knew that.

The casual observer might think Connor didn't know that, given that he was, in fact, not putting on his swimsuit. If I take Connor's words at face, I'm led to think he's merely saying "I don't want to" or "I'm ignoring you" in a way that he finds more socially palatable.

The latter phrase comes up in the context of:

It's time to go to bed.
It's NOT fair!

You need to finish dinner.
It's NOT fair!

You may not have another dessert.
It's NOT fair.

This drives me nuts, because if anyone has it good, my kids do. We've been talking at length about the meaning of fair. Turns out, the concept is harder to explain than I thought. We also talk a lot about how in many ways, Connor is right. Life is not fair. Many arbitrary and somewhat capricious rules exist. And part of the work of life is figuring out how to maneuver along, constraints and all.