Well, what is necessary?

Adele Aava
4 min readMay 13, 2022

or: “little girls wiser than old men”

Drawing by little Adele Aava

The other day, I was on a face time video chat with our six year-old, asking about her day and how she had been. She was playing with her rubber fruit toys, in front of her_one of the many_ barbie houses. I could tell from the way she chewed on her toys and rolled her eyes that she was already restive. So, I thought changing the subject would help ginger up the chat.

“Nice barbie house!” I said in an overblown tone, “have I seen it before?”

“ I hate that barbie house!” she grimaced.

“Isn’t it the same barbie house you were aching for?” said her dad.

“NooooooO!” she said, forming a big O with her lips as she went on.

“come on!” daddy squealed, “weren’t you badgering me for a whole week why the online order wasn’t delivered on time?”

“That’s not the type of barbie house I asked you to order!” she said, cool as a cucumber.

Daddy raised eyebrows, blew out his cheeks and puffed in frustration.

“I mean, what kind of a house is that?” said she.

“what’s wrong with it sweetie pie?” I asked.

“first of all, it has no roofs and ceilings and walls and stuff! normal houses don’t look like this; besides, It’s blue and not pink! I’d get a pink!”

Daddy made a funny face:“It cost me a bundle and now it’s not pink!” and started mimicking her girlish voice.

We all burst into laughter.

“I would be thankful!” I said, “I barely had toys as a child!”

“what do you mean barely?” she asked.

“It means I only had a few dolls and no more!” I answered.

“How many is a few?” she asked.

“Three or four.” I said.

“huuuuh!” she gaped, “why so few? weren’t there enough toys to buy?”

“There were honey!” I chuckled, “It’s just that they didn't buy children that many toys.”

“But Why? didn’t they have enough money?” she was flabbergasted.

“Yes they did!” I said, “I’m not sure why, but I think that’s because they thought buying toys…

Adele Aava

Author, translator, singer and voice trainer, serving food for thought and desserts for fun.