My four-year-old daughter packed her suitcase this evening and announced that she was leaving home: I was shocked when I found out the reason
This evening, as soon as I stepped into the yard, I saw a strange sight: my four-year-old daughter was standing right at the doorstep, as if she had been guarding it and waiting for me. She was wearing her little pink backpack, and next to her was the small rolling suitcase we had bought for our trips to the seaside.
Her eyes were shiny and red — she had clearly been crying recently.
“Sweetheart, what happened?” I immediately crouched down in front of her. “Why are you standing here? And why do you have a suitcase?”
She took a deep breath, as if she were about to tell me something very serious.
“Daddy…” she said in a trembling voice. “I’m leaving this house.”
My heart dropped.
“You… what? Where are you going? Why? Did something happen?”
She frowned, and her lip began to tremble.
“I can’t live here anymore!” she said so dramatically it sounded like she had rehearsed it in front of the mirror.
At once, the worst scenarios ran through my mind: had someone hurt her? Had something happened at kindergarten?
“Explain properly… please,” I said, now serious.
And then she said the sentence that completely shocked me
But a second later I was already struggling to hold back laughter.
“I can’t live with your wife anymore.”
I blinked several times, not understanding at first.
“You mean… your mother?”
“Yes!” she said indignantly. “I don’t love her anymore!”
“Okay… and what did Mom do?”
She threw her hands up as if everything should have been obvious.
“She’s… a monster! A real monster!” she complained. “She won’t let me watch TV, she won’t let me eat chocolate, and she keeps making me clean my room!”
I turned my head away, because I was about to burst out laughing.
“I see…” I said slowly, trying to keep a straight face. “Alright. Let’s suppose so. And where are you going to live then?”
“Far away from your wife!” she declared proudly.
“Mhm, interesting. And more specifically?”
“At Grandma’s!” she announced like a champion. “Grandma lets me watch cartoons and always gives me chocolate!”
At that point I couldn’t hold it in anymore and burst out laughing. She was standing there with such a serious face that she looked forty, not four.
I hugged her, pulled her close and kissed the top of her head.
“My little princess… come on, let’s go back inside. I’ll talk to that monster.”
She lifted her head and asked quietly:
“Daddy… will you really talk to her?”
“Of course,” I smiled. “But first we’re unpacking this suitcase, alright?”
She nodded, and with the expression of a small champion, she rolled her suitcase back into the house.
