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The three-year-old logical process:

1. According to Thomas The Tank Engine, trains have “drivers.”

2. According to Busytown, trains have “engineers.”

3. From (1) and (2), we reason that a driver is not the same as an engineer.

4. Mom drives the car, so she is a driver.

5. Dad is an engineer, because he has said so.

6. Dad never drives the car, so he is not a driver.

7. Combining (3), (5), and (6), we conclude that you can be a driver or an engineer, but not both.

8. Preliminary result, from (4) and (7): Mom is not an engineer.

9. Using (7) and pre-schooler logic axioms #53 (“Negative conjunction implies exclusive disjunction”) and #54 (“Generalize as much as possible, and then some more”), we conclude that everyone must be either a driver or an engineer.

10. Clara is not a driver - clearly, since she is never allowed to drive the car, couldn’t reach the pedals, etc.

11. From (9) and (10), we conclude that Clara must be an engineer!

QED

“I’m an engineer, Daddy!”

“Yes, I’m sure you are.”