An Ordinary Japanese Mom's Diary: My son's tears

Since it was a flammable garbage collection day last Friday, I prepared to take out the garbage.

I wanted to throw away my children's drawing pads which they finished using.

There were 8 drawing pads.

But every time I asked them which pictures they wanted to keep, their answers were "All of them."

So I decided to throw them away, but I left some their good works of them by taking photos.

My 6-year-old son noticed that his old drawing pads weren't missing, then he asked me where they were yesterday morning.

I answered,

"I am sorry, I throw them away because there were too many drawing pads and I wanted to tidy up a messy shelf."

"What? Why... Why did you do that?"

He got angry at me.

"I took some photos of your drawings. Look at these!"

I showed him my iPad photos, but his favorite didn't include in them.

He was livid.

He started throwing his new drawing pad and his toys.

And he brought Origami(colored paper) and crumpled them into balls and throw them away in the living room.

After that, he started writing something on a colored paper and brought it to me in a huff.

Words of the strong anger against me were written in it.

I can't translate in English properly, but I upload his letter for an admonition to oneself daringly.

I told him,

"I always tell you that you need to throw your drawing away if you can't put them in your drawing box because there are too much drawings, don't I? Why didn't you do that? Why don't you draw it again?"

He started crying and said,

"I can't draw it again!"

I could imagine his anger.

So I should have consulted with him which drawing I could throw away but I neglected it.

My husband told me calmly,

"As a child, I had a same experience with my son. You know, I loved drawing, too. But my mother said same things with you."

I was looking at what he did and waited until he would calm down.

After a while, he came to me and hugged me.

"Do you feel better now?"

I asked him, he answered "Yes".

I told him,

"I am very sorry. I should have consulted you before I throw them up. I thought I chose you good drawings to keep them, but my selections were not same with your favorite. I am very sorry."
I realized that my children are not mine, and they have their own ideas and I have to respect them.