"How may I help you?"

To all of us normal civilized people the phrase “How may I help you?” is a very kind and polite question but to a 3 year old this is clearly an insult. I learned this today as Stella was playing with her Disney Princess phone. When you pick up the receiver a very nice lady says “Hello, how may I help you?” To which Stella replied “NO! I DON’T NEED ANY HELP!” She put the receiver down and picked it up again, and when she did, she received the same nice lady “Hello, how may I help you?” “I TOLD YOU I DON’T NEED ANY HELP!” I then tried to jump in to try and dissolve the escalating tension between my daughter and an imaginary fairy godmother type woman. “Honey, she isn’t asking if you need help, she is asking what she can do for you.” I said trying to explain what the phrase meant. “Well I don’t need her to do anything for me, I can do it myself.” Stella replied. This is when I gave up. So for the next 15 minutes Stella continued to pick up the phone and get madder and madder until she finally threw it on the ground.