Ask any child in the preschool age what he or she wants to become when grown up, and the usual answer is to be like one of the parents. The parent is the child’s ideal. It is a magical world for the child to be like one’s parent. But then, during school age the ambitions change, sometimes twice a day.
As doctors, to get the child’s confidence and cooperation for the examination, we often engage the child in such talks, and before the child knows it the quick examination is done and we can then get on with further management of the child’s illness.
On the other hand, these questions can be quite a needle prick for the parents, because once the child is relaxed, heaven only knows what he or she will blurt out. So you are never quite sure which way the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”, will lead.
Recently a family brought along their three year old daughter
