12 September 2008

The Lawman

Lately, my 7-year-old son has been obsessed with what's begainst the law (his way of pronouncing "against").

He'll come up with all kinds of creative scenarios and ask "Is this begainst the law?" Like, "What if an alien came down from space and said, 'You're stupid.' Is that begainst the law?" or "What if the President invades another country and starts a war and kids die in that war? Is that begainst the law?" (yes, he and I have been discussing world events).

Most of the time my answer is an exasperated, "I don't know, Evan."

"Mom, you need to go to law school. And we need a set of law books."

My response: "Hey, Evan, how about if you go to law school. And there's a million different kind of law books. There are libraries filled with law books."

"Cool! Can we go to the law library?" I love my nerdy boy.

"The speed limit's 35. That sign said so. I read it. You're not driving 35. You're speeding. You're going to get pulled over and taken to jail!"

"Flynn, if you don't cut it out I'm going to lawyer all over you!"

I can't quite figure out where this fascination with law came from. Yes, Frank and I have impressed upon him from an early age the importance of "following the rules." He knows that laws are the rules we live by. But it's almost like he's looking for a loophole. Is he destined to be a criminal mastermind or a Supreme Court judge? Do I need to tell you which I prefer?

I just wish he'd stop with the backseat driving. It's slightly annoying and almost makes me wish he was still illiterate.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You had better just hope he doesn't think to report your driving to a friendly police officer!

The Fearless Freak said...

I'm NOT looking forward to that. I already get told on a regular basis that I'm speeding, even when I'm really not. I don't need his input when I am LOL

VeganLinda said...

My four year old is the "police" in my car. He wants to know all the rules of the road and will say when I can or can't go. It drives me nuts. He is also obsessed with police officers and robbers (oh, how I wish he didn't have a bunch of older kids in the neighborhood to play with some days). I didn't have this with my older child...he just gave us a hard time about drinking coffee, alcohol, and eating sugar.