Classics – Princess and the pea

Last night, our girl pretty much made up the below scenario herself (inspired by what she had at dinner), with some prompting/questioning from me, of course:

One day, Rosie and Rei meimei (from Kindermusik class) woke up in the morning and saw豌豆. One豌豆. At the supermarket. So Rosie ate the 豌豆 (popped imaginary pea into mouth and pretended to munch on it, complete with ‘mmmm mum-mum-mum’ sounds).

It was at this point that I interjected and pretended to be an angry aunty at the supermarket who asked if she had paid for the pea, and questioned why she was eating it. When prompted as to what Rosie would do next, I thought she would apologize, or quickly put the pea back.

Instead, after deliberating for about two seconds, she said ‘赶紧跑。跑，跑，跑真快！'

Faint. I laughed, and civics and moral education session kicked in – I told her she should apologize and quickly ask Mummy to help pay for the pea, as things in the supermarket do not belong to her, and should not be eaten/used until we have paid for them. After she said her ‘不好意思', I took on the role of the Supermarket Aunty again and praised her for being a good girl, and offered another complimentary pea to her.

She really learns pretty fast – this time, she immediately pushed the imaginary pea back to me and said, ‘这个没给钱呢!'.