I’m Kasumi, and I’m raising my five-year-old daughter, Mao. Today, we went out to a family restaurant with Chihiro and her daughter Shizuka, who is also five and goes to the same after-school class as Mao. It was our first time eating together. Mao is a light eater and couldn’t finish her kid’s meal, which led to Shizuka saying, “She’s a bad girl, right?” It turns out Chihiro is a “clean plate or else” kind of parent. She looked Mao right in the eye and said, “Yup, you’re a bad girl if you leave food on your plate.”
How can someone so boldly tell someone else’s child that they’re “bad” just for leaving some food? I wish she wouldn’t label my daughter like that just because she couldn’t finish a restaurant meal. Being a “good kid” isn’t determined solely by whether you finish every bite, is it? After all, there are people in this world like Chihiro—people who never leave leftovers but have no problem being mean. Still, I don’t want to waste my breath arguing back and forth. To each their own. I just don’t understand why the “clean plate” crowd feels the need to butt into everyone else’s business. I know everyone has different values. I don’t force my belief—that you shouldn’t suffer just to finish a plate—on anyone else. So, I really wish the “clean plate or else” people would stop forcing their views on us, too.