Today, I pulled Estella out from school right after her nap to rush down to ICA for our e-appointment! It was a nice chatty ride with her (despite the rain) since she got the much-coveted, privileged front passenger seat (in her car seat of course), her tabao-ed Yakult and pancakes from school, and a mini pack of Hello Panda all to herself.
As we were driving out of the carpark. I thought of using this chance to teach her personal responsibility in taking good care of her new passport. She had been holding it so proudly the moment we got into the car. So... here's our little conversation:
Mama: Estella, it's important to take good care of your passport. If you drop it, we'll need to call the police...
Estella: [Probably shocked by the mention of 'police', the passport actually slipped from her hands and fell on the floor, in the car of course] Oh... Mama...
Mama: [Focusing on traffic, trying to join up to main road]
Estella: [Long pause]
Just as I was wondering why she had the long pause, I noticed she was looking a little troubled. I saw the passport 'dropped'. Instead of picking it up straightaway, she was looking at me.
Estella: Mama, we don't need to call the police, right??
Then it all clicked! She thought we had to call the police because she dropped the passport!
Ok, we have to use another word to complete the whole lesson now.
Instead of 'drop', 'missing', 'stolen', 'cannot be found' are better choice of words in this instance.
