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April 11, 2006
Precision
Sometimes, children come up with such fine arguments - or at least surprise you with a really good one - that you have little choice but to surrender. Our daughter is nearly 12. She just asked us if she could start riding in the front seat of the cars yet. I showed her the airbag warning labels that say that if deployed, "Children 12 and under may be injured or killed".
(Now, at age 12, she's almost as tall as her mom, and weighs over 100, while the airbags are typically spec'd for 60-75 lbs, but I wasn't going to tell her that.)
So, my daughter - who claims not to have inherited any math skills from me - says that: "Hey, doesn't that mean that when I'm 12 years and 1 day old that I'll be old enough? I'll be older than 12 at that point, and the sign says 12 and under."
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Comments
So she's going to be a lawyer or politician, or maybe just a wise-ass.
Posted by: Brian Medcalf at April 12, 2006 11:02 PM
Naah, a real wise-ass, which is what my son has grown up to be, would have nitpicked "may" versus "might". "Children 12 and under have our permission to be be injured or killed"
Posted by: triticale at April 18, 2006 8:48 PM
That's hilarious triticale! I completely missed that.
Posted by: Brian Medcalf at April 20, 2006 12:51 AM