As kids see it ....

A few years ago, I learnt just how much young children take to heart the things we unknowingly say to them. When my daughter was four and quite a handful, I would, at times, in sheer exasperation, call her a pest.
One day, my husband informed me that our housing society had fixed an appointment with the pest control company to get rid of cockroaches and termites. Hearing this, my usually bubbly daughter became quiet and asked with trepidation, “Are they coming to control me?”