I was bowled over

My "little darling" loves bedtime stories.

Besides reading stories from books to her, I sometimes spin stories of my own for her.

Recently, I spun a story with a "local flavour", around the life of a 9 yrs old boy "Xiao Min".

The story spanned over 3 bed times.

After the completion of the story, the night before, I asked her at
lunch time, whether she could tell me why she liked the story.

"You mean to critique the story, por, por?

"Yes, please, darling", I responded, somewhat surprised at the word "critique".

After saying that "the plot is quite good & interesting for young children"; she reeled off with eloquence, for almost 10 minutes.

First, she pointed out that the story is too long; explaining that "children want to know, quickly, how the story ends".

Then, she shared that there are too many "morals" in the story.

"One, maybe two morals will be enough", came her comment, as she flicked up her 2  little fingers, one at a time.

I sat, enthralled.

Indeed, I did try to weave in  a few morals or teachings!

I did ambitiously tried to reinforce my teachings on ... manners, good behaviour, gratitude ... in the story, and was amazed that she saw through it!

Then she pointed out the "holes" in the plot & "story line"

Finally, she rounded off with an improvement on a sub-plot, where the rogue was jailed (in my original version).  She opinionated that it will be more interesting to state that he is on the run and is on the police' wanted list.

I nearly fell off my seat!