I WAS drying Emily after giving her a bath the other night.

We were talking about how well she was doing with her reading and writing.

She said they were her favourite things. And I said I was the same as a boy and that I'd always wanted to be a writer when I grew up (I still do).

I explained this was why I worked on a newspaper.

Emily: "What's your job called, again?"

Me: "Journalist."

Emily: "That's right. I couldn't remember the name."

Me: "And I'm the deputy editor of the newspaper."

Emily: "What does a deputy head do, daddy?"

Me: "Not deputy head. Deputy editor."

I should explain at this point that my wife is a teacher, hence Emily's confusion.

Emily: "What does a deputy headitor do?" (We left editor as headitor, it was easier that way.) Me: "Well, there's the editor, she's the boss. And then there's me, the deputy editor, the second boss."

Emily pondered this a moment as I dried her face with the towel.

Emily: "That's good. But I don't like the word 'boss' because it sounds like someone who's bossy."

I'm sure there's some deep and meaningful business leadership lesson hidden in there somewhere.