My daughter's plans

My five-year-old daughter has been making plans for her future.

She would like to run an orphanage. She's given this a great deal of thought lately. She's planned most of it out. She says she'll take both boys and girls, probably totalling about 12 kids. She says she doesn't want to have TOO many, because it would be too hard to take care of them all.

She's come up with a list of policies. Every child will get present on his or her birthday. Every child will get to choose what they want to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. No child is allowed to chew with his or her mouth open.

The orphanage will have 2 bedrooms - one very small one for herself, and one huge one for all of the children. The children's bedroom must have a bookshelf full of books. The children won't go to school because she will be their teacher.

She has roles for us to play as well. I'm in charge of cooking, and her father is in charge of lining them up to go on field trips and so on. Also, in the evening, when she wants a night off, I'm in charge of babysitting, and her father is in charge of reading them stories when they go to sleep.

Last night, she even asked me, "Mom, what do I have to do to become someone who can run an orphanage?" I said "You probably need a degree in social work and a degree in early childhood education." "Where do I go for those?" she asked. "You can get them at Mount Royal College," I said.

She fell asleep continuing to think about her plans.