美穂(33)は夫と2人の子供と共に地方都市に住み、正社員として働きながら子育てに奮闘している。近くの学校には専用駐車場がないため、コインパーキングを利用するルールがあるが、ある母親は路上駐車をし続けている。美穂は保育園に通報し、批判を受けたが、自分の行動を再確認して自信を持つ。道徳的な行動を子供に示すことの重要性を感じつつ、その後も不快な態度に対して立ち向かう姿勢を示している。
Continuing from the last time. My name is Miho (33). I currently live in a regional city with my husband and two children (4 years old and 0 years old). I am working as a full-time employee after returning from maternity leave, and I am struggling every day to raise my son.
The school my son attends does not have a dedicated parking lot, so it’s a rule to use a nearby paid parking lot. However, one mother breaks this rule and frequently parks on the street. I couldn’t bear it, so I reported it to the nursery school and received a warning, but I was criticized by a few other moms, including the one who was illegally parking on the street.
Amidst the blame, I began to feel anxious that reporting to the nursery school may have been a mistake.
I am well aware that it is difficult to use the nearby parking lot for drop-off and pick-up. Especially on rainy days or when carrying a lot of stuff, it’s hard to walk to the coin-operated parking lot with children. I can understand the temptation to break the rules for just a few minutes if it can alleviate some discomfort. Ignoring strange problems to avoid causing trouble may be necessary in living in society… I questioned whether what I did was right…
Sota told me about what happened with his friends that day.
I hugged him and said, “Sota…! What you did was not wrong. It was good to be able to warn that it was wrong.”
After hearing Sota’s story, I once again thought, “It’s wrong for people who speak the truth to be criticized negatively! I don’t want my children to grow up like that!” When I reported being stopped on the highway to the school, I was criticized, and I wasn’t sure if what I did was right. However, after hearing Sota’s story, I became convinced that what I had done was not a mistake. As an adult, to avoid showing embarrassment to my son, I decided to report the parking lot incident to the kindergarten.
When I reported this to the nursery school, it seems that the mother was separately warned by the nursery. Since then, there have been no more instances of street parking.
Individual notifications from the park have made it easier to avoid parking on the street. However, despite my greetings, I continue to be ignored or spoken to in a hushed voice while being looked at, and the unpleasant attitude persists. Despite feeling a little down about that attitude, I have never once thought that what I did was wrong. I want to continue being a presence that can convey to my children that it’s wrong for people who speak the truth to be criticized.
Original draft/Editing Department Script/Illustration Meshiko/Vicky Takahashi Editing/Mika Yokouchi