Dude, I've explained the same things to my DD many times. I don't know why, but it doesn't seem to help. She's aware that we do have rules to follow, but to her not breaking laws seems fairly easy compared to the many restrictions she lives with. Honestly, I'd rather be an adult than a child in most ways, so I get it.
But it's more than just the law, isn't it? There's no law saying you can't keep your child up too late, send them to school too tired, and have them blow up over nothing in the middle of class because of it. More than likely, it's the child who will be blamed, not you.
Legally speaking, as a parent you can skate by with the minimum of effort, because as long as your children aren't in imminent danger, there's nothing the legal system can do. Legally speaking, you can also get away with some outrageously bad parenting behaviors, so long as that imminent danger threshold isn't crossed. As long as your kid:
- attends school regularly
- isn't being beaten too badly
- isn't imprisoned in a closet, shed, crib, etc.
- isn't working in a sweat shop/coal mine/begging professionally/etc.
- isn't being molested or otherwise sexualized
- receives sufficient food/water that they're not obviously sick or dying
- has clothes to wear in a reasonable state of repair
- has adequate shelter and supervision
Then pretty much anything goes, because parental rights. What a world we live in, eh?
Even some of the things I've told my daughter are her rights are not legally respected as such. She has a legal right to an education, but it doesn't have to be "good" (if that could even be defined in legal terms). In the wrong socio-economic situation, a "good" education could be a non-starter anyway. Same goes for health... as long as she isn't about to die, legally, my job is done, regardless of whether I'm setting her up for early onset diabetes or not.
"Doing the right thing" means accepting a whole host of obligations well above and beyond "obeying the laws." My DD has these extra rights because DW and I have decided she has them, because these are the things a child needs to thrive, and because ultimately, that's our goal. And I'm sure that's the same goal we all share here.
So, 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).
Anyway, hopefully some of this gets you thinking about how to communicate with her in a different way that helps. Maybe this would help, though I don't believe it has any legal force:
http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/humanrights/resources/child.asp