o, that's the tricky part... how to tell your DD that you've accepted a whole set of obligations beyond staying out of jail. In our case, we've kept it simple... my DD7 has no idea which rights are protected by law, and which aren't. If your DD has already thought beyond that, your job there is tougher. Most parents attempt to skate by with the tried and trite: "because I love you," or "it's for your own good." But obviously that's not enough for a gifted kid (I'm not convinced it's enough for any kid, honestly)
I'm not totally clear what you mean here. Of course she knows that our obligations to her and the world extend beyond just folloiwng the letter of the law. We've explained that we do things as we do "because it will help you in x, y, z way" or "because we wouldn't feel like we were doing our job as your parents if we didn't." Believe me, these comversations have gone on and on. You seem to be suggesting that there is a higher level of conversation to be had, but I'm not quite sure what it would be beyond that. What am I missing? When I was talking about the law above, it was more that her perception of adulthood is that the world is pretty open as a general rule in that you don't have a ton of restrictions on you outside of not breaking the law and providing for basic physical needs of living.
