Huh?

As we were walking past a fellow camper this week I overheard a mother venting to her child. The tired mother was outside furiously peeling something while the little girl, who was probably six, stood there silently taking her tongue lashing. Now, of course, I realize I have no personal knowledge of how much whining, begging, or laziness had already occurred, or what hardships mom had already endured. What I do know was that the little girl was looking rather blank, and as if she'd love to know how to make it all stop.
"I am cooking dinner for you. The least you could do is be considerate."
We kept walking and she kept talking.
"You do nothing while I work...and I'm sick of it."
Good heavens, I thought, she's six years old. In the first place, does a six year old comprehend the phrase, "The least you could do.."? Next; "be considerate"? "You do nothing"? Huh? I wondered if the kid thought "I watched a movie and played with my toys you gave me. I ate lunch you gave me, I talked to you...whaddayamean I did nothing?"
We kept walking and I said to dad, "You know, she'd have gotten so much more cooperation if she said, "Mommy's tired, please go sit in the tent." (or go see Daddy, play with your ball, read a book, whatever.) Or, if there was energy: "Look, Sally, everyone needs to help. Everyone in a family needs to do their part. I'm making dinner and you need to pick up your toys from the tent. (or wash the potatoes or wipe the table or whatever.)
I've learned from working with a couple of hundred kids that they do NOT, repeat, DO NOT intuit much. You must be very direct with your request, including a time frame. For instance, you can't say, "Put that away" because that, loosely interpreted, means, "ruin this as you shove it in your desk out of sight, never to see the light of day again." Instead you say, "Please put this lying flat in your yellow folder right now while I watch." (Watch) "Thanks, nice job."
Also; always state what you want, not what you don't want. "Don't put your feet there" could mean, "Lean back in your chair and put them on the desk instead" or, "See if you can reach your neighbors chair". Instead, "I need your feet on the floor right now." In our campers case, asking the six year old girl to follow a specific request would have increased the odds for success 100 fold. Of course, that wouldn't have allowed her to Mt. St. Helen's her frustrations to the world, would it. But it would have spared a six year old a tirade she was helpless to stop.
The really sad part was that I have a hunch she was talking to the wrong member of the household about "the least you could do" and "consideration". Ya think?