Parenting Essay: A Cheer at the Ticket Gate

That day, I took my two-year-old son on a train to a station two stops away to buy daily necessities, rather than going to the supermarket near our home.
Shopping with a small child is a struggle.
Diapers, milk, snacks, a change of clothes...
Even before I started shopping, I was already carrying a heavy load.

The shopping itself was finished without incident.
The incident happened on the way home.

I had bought what I needed, and when I took my son's hand and headed toward the ticket gate,
“I want to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house”
he said.

“We have a lot of bags today, so let's go another time, okay?”
The moment I said that, my son threw himself on the ground and started crying loudly.

Many people were coming and going in front of the ticket gate.
Feeling sorry for the people around me and embarrassed,
“I'm the one who wants to cry...”
I muttered in my heart, but I didn't have the energy to pick him up, and I just stood there, stunned.

At that moment, from behind me,
clap, clap, clap...
I heard the sound of hands clapping.

“You're doing great, Mom!”

When I turned around, a woman I didn't know was cheering for me in a loud voice.
“You are doing your best, so I wanted to cheer for you.”
She left those words behind and disappeared into the crowd.

The moment I heard those words, I couldn't stop my tears.
Perhaps surprised that I had suddenly started crying, my son stopped crying.

I took my son's hand just like that and went home.

[A Cheer at the Ticket Gate]

That day, instead of going to the supermarket near our house, I took my two-year-old son on a short train ride to a station two stops away to buy some daily necessities.

Shopping with a small child is always a challenge.
Diapers, formula, snacks, a change of clothes...
I was already carrying a mountain of things before the shopping even began.

The shopping itself went smoothly.
The “incident” happened on the way back.

With everything we needed in our bags, I took my son's hand and headed toward the ticket gate.
That's when he suddenly said,
“I want to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house.”

“We have too many bags today, so let's go another time, okay?”
I told him gently.

The next moment, he threw himself onto the floor and burst into tears.

It was right in front of the ticket gate, with crowds of people walking by.
I felt embarrassed, apologetic, overwhelmed—
honestly, I was the one who wanted to cry.
But I didn't even have the strength to pick him up.
I just stood there, frozen.

Then I heard it.
Clap, clap, clap.

“You can do it, Mom!”

I turned around in surprise.
A woman I had never met was clapping and cheering for me.

“You're doing your best. I just wanted to cheer you on,”
she said, before disappearing into the crowd.

Her words broke something open inside me, and I suddenly burst into tears.

Maybe he was startled by my crying,
but my son stopped crying.

I took his hand again, and we headed home.