As I opened the front screen door Atticus said, “By the way, Scout, you’d better not say anything at school about our agreement.”
“Why not?”
“I’m afraid our activities would be received with considerable disapprobation by the more learned authorities.”
Jem and I were accustomed to our father’s last-will-and-testament diction, and we were at all times free to interrupt Atticus for a translation when it was beyond our understanding.
“Huh, sir?”
“I never went to school,” he said, “but I have a feeling that if you tell Miss Caroline we read every night she’ll get after me, and I wouldn’t want her after me.”
– Harper Lee
To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 3. Atticus has a unique and untypical parenting approach which sets him apart from the other characters in the story. It is a very admirable one in which he shows respect for his children and engages with them as equals. He chooses to treat them as individuals and speak to them in an adult-like way.