Officer Jackie

I believe there is a very good possibility that our 4-year-old may become a police officer.

She loves to make sure people are following the rules.

She loves to report it when others (especially her sister) break said rules.

And she knows, without a doubt, that when approaching stoplights you GO on green and STOP on red.

The following took place this afternoon when we were driving home from the dentist.  Ethan, who is notorious for hitting every red light through town, approached a stoplight.  The light turned yellow and he decided to keep going.  Technically....he probably should have slowed down, but it was still yellow.

Then it turned red.

Jackie saw it.

"Dad, you went on that red light."

"Didn't you see that it was red?!?"

"Daaaaadddd your not supposed to drive when it's red!"

"Green is go and red is stop, you didn't stop you went!"

"Did you think it was green?  No!  It was red.  You didn't stop!"  -- This is where I completely lost it.

"I saw it turn red."

"Here's another light, it's green you can go.  If it turns red you have to stop."

The same 4-year-old who doesn't have the attention span to color a picture, lectured us on stopping for red lights for over a mile.

We were in tears.

I don't know what my children will actually grow up to become, but I can tell you one thing.  If Jackie doesn't choose a career that allows her to enforce rules or laws, I will be very surprised.

PS...I totally expect our first parent/teacher conference to have some sort of reference to Jackie being "bossy" or a "tattle-tale."  I just hope to turn those terms into "leader" and "enforcer" someday!  :)