Tonight was Open House night at Cat’s school and so we had an opportunity to meet her third grade teachers and hear an overview of the upcoming year.

At the end of the evening, I introduced myself to Cat’s homeroom teacher. I told the teacher that the reading project she had assigned had really inspired Cat. The teacher suddenly had a funny look cross her face and then burst out laughing.
“You are a lawyer, aren’t you?” she asked.

“Ummmmm, yes. Why?”

“Cat said the funniest thing. In all of my 14 years of teaching, no child has ever said this to me. I couldn’t believe it.”

This was not the “your Darling Precious is the most wonderful child ever” patter I had been expecting.

“Go ahead,” I sighed. “Tell me what she said.”

“Well for the reading project the children have to pledge to read a certain number of pages in the month,” she said. “They fill out the pledge at the top, I initial the number of pages they select and then they sign the bottom. I was explaining to the children that this is a contract between me and them and that it is important to honor the contract.”

“When I came around to initial Cat’s paper, she had not signed it. I asked her why not and she looked me right in the face and said, ‘I’m sorry, but I can’t sign any contracts until I have my lawyer review it first. I’ll get back to you on this.’”

Next semester we will tackle Miranda rights.