Six-Year-Old Back Seat Driver Rats Out Parents

Being stopped by a cop is always embarrassing, but even more so when your kid contradicts you!

Back when I was first dating my husband Ron, he worked nights, I worked days, and so the weekends were the only time we saw each other. He used to pick my daughter Lee Ann and me up at my apartment on Fridays after midnight, and take us to his house for the weekend.

One particular Friday night, the City was still digging out of a heavy snowfall, and the streets were icy. Twice we found ourselves skidding when stopping for red lights and stop signs, and once we were almost hit when another driver was unable to stop and slid right into the intersection.

Deciding to avoid the heavily traveled main roads (it was late, but it was also Friday night, and the bars were starting to empty), Ron took to the side streets. While they weren't cleared as well as the main roads, he figured we'd be less likely to be hit by another driver.

We found ourselves approaching another stop sign. Ron slowed as much as he could and started pumping the brakes so we wouldn't slide, made sure there were no vehicles in sight, and coasted through the stop sign. Well, evidently we missed one vehicle because a minute later, a cop car was flashing its lights and gesturing us to pull over. Now this guy must have been hiding somewhere just waiting for someone to do what Ron had been forced to do, slide through the stop sign, so he could make his quota that night.

"You know why I stopped you, son?" the officer asked. (This was when most of the cops were still older than us.) "No, sir, officer," Ron respectfully replied. "Well, you didn't stop at that last stop sign," the man in blue informed him. "Well, officer, I think I did the best I could under the conditions."

Now, it was now almost 1:30 a.m., and you'd think a six-year-old who'd been carried out to the car asleep would still be in dreamland, especially since we hadn't heard a peep from her since we left. So we were understandably startled when a little voice from the back seat announced, "Uh uh, no you didn't Ron."

The cop cocked his head to see the little cherub who'd just ratted out her future stepfather and smiled. When Ron explained that he had tried to stop, but just couldn't due to the icy conditions, the little darling found it necessary to add, "Uh uh, you just drove right through it."

At this point, I was sure tomorrow I'd be looking for a new boyfriend. "Hush," I chided her. "But Mommy, you always say it's wrong to lie."

The cop did a poor job of hiding his amusement, but let us go with a warning to drive more carefully. I guess he figured we'd been humiliated enough. Or, at the least, was rewarding me for raising such an honest kid.