I was surprised when my three-year-old daughter came to me with her sad little face and showed me her broken baby doll with no arms. She remained silent when I asked her about the missing arms. My mum overheard our conversation and told me what happened to the wretched doll.

Aliya usually takes a nap with my mum in the afternoon. Yesterday, she refused to sleep and decided to play with her baby doll on my mum’s bed. Aliya was swinging the baby doll when it hit my mum right smack in her face just below her right eye. The doll’s head is hard and it hit her face with a loud thud. My mum screamed in pain and her first reaction was to take the doll and rip out the arms.

Both my mum and Aliya shed tears. My mum was in pain and Aliya was very sad about her broken doll. I believe she did not mean to hurt her grandma. Anyway, Aliya apologized to my mum, put on an angelic face and asked for a new doll. I would have refused to get her a new one, but my mum gave in and promised to buy it for her. Sigh…