I’m Kasumi, and I’m raising my five-year-old daughter, Mao. Today, I’m at a diner with Chihiro and her five-year-old daughter, Shizuka, whom we know from extracurricular lessons. Even though Mao and Shizuka go to different kindergartens, they’ll be attending the same elementary school. We’ve been hanging out at the park after lessons to get to know each other better, but this is our first time actually going out on a weekend to grab a meal together. I’m starting to realize, though, that the closer you get to someone, the more you notice how much your values differ…
Today is my first lunch with Chihiro and her daughter. I wanted Mao to enjoy the experience of picking out what she likes, so I ordered the kids’ meal for her. Mao’s a light eater, so she actually did a great job finishing as much as she did.
But it turns out Chihiro is a “zero leftovers” kind of person. When Shizuka looked for confirmation, asking, “She’s being a bad girl, right?” Chihiro didn’t hold back and said, “Yeah, you’re a bad girl if you leave food”. I get that she’s always teaching her daughter not to waste food and didn’t want to break character, but did she really have to call someone else’s child “bad” right to her face?