Beth's Gifts

"Australia seems like my birthplace," enthused Beth as we walked home from school.

"The roads are so familiar. The trees are familiar."

I paused in my pram-pushing to look at her.

Sometimes I have to remind myself that she is only 6. The way she goes on sometimes, she's like someone much much older.

She seems to have a knack for finding the right word to use too. Most 6 y.o.'s would say "the place I was born" or something similar, not "birthplace". I guess all that reading helps.

Beth went on with her soliloquy.

"If you ever forget how to drive...remember I'm only a little girl. I have my whole life in front of me."

"Did you make that up or is that something you learnt at school?" I asked, astonished.

I had in mind some Victorian Government Arrive Alive road safety propaganda.

"I read it in a book," she grinned, very pleased with herself, and went on reciting more bits from said book that were too brain-taxing (for me) to remember.

"You know," I mused, "If more children said that to adults, maybe there'll be fewer road accidents."

The conversation turned to whether it's better to be dead or to survive with injuries of a debilitating nature (like not being able to talk or move again).

"It's worse to be dead," asserted Beth. "You can't eat or drink anymore."

I think Beth will excel in Speech and Drama, and maybe Spelling Bees too.