Mom Caught Doing the Unthinkable by Her Toddler: 'Lesson Learned'

A mom has shared a valuable parenting lesson she learned while tidying her daughter's room.

Claire Jopson, from Buckinghamshire in the U.K. took to TikTok and Instagram, posting under the handle twinperspectives, to show how she landed herself in trouble with her young daughter Olive.

"We were cleaning out Olive's room to decorate it and found a very old pile of nursery 'artwork' in an old bag," Jopson told Newsweek. "I popped it in the bin in our bedroom to take downstairs as we have her artwork all over the house and don't need any more on display."

Decluttering represents a source of considerable concern to people today. A survey of over 2,000 Americans conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Winmark found that despite 54 percent of respondents admitting to having a cluttered home, many struggle to let go of otherwise ordinary items.

The research found 77 percent of those polled admitted to forming an emotional connection with items in their home, while 63 percent said they felt guilty about throwing something away that might "still has a little bit of life left in it."

In this instance, Jopson had no qualms about discarding her daughter's "artwork" that, according to the video, included a "picture of a popcorn."

However, Olive felt otherwise and was far from happy when she discovered her artistic efforts in the trash. Despite Jopson attempting to argue to the contrary, Olive can be heard on the video insisting "don't put it in the [can], it's not [trash]."

Though Olive struggles to explain what the paintings and doodles on the various pieces of paper represent, her mom is happy to play along and definitely saw the funny side.

"I thought it was very funny when she found it. As you can tell, she is a very self-assured toddler and she was quick to put me in my place," Jopson said.

Though the caption Jopson put on the video suggested she thought she was "failing at motherhood" in trying to throw the drawings away, but she ended up handling the fallout from the situation with relative ease.

"The artwork ended up in her bedroom for a day until she lost interest in it again and then it went in the outside bin," she said. "I can't say she's asked for it again, especially the piece of popcorn stuck to a bit of paper—she ate the rest."

Despite this, some of those commenting on the twinperspectives TikTok video were critical of Jopson's actions. "Wow how heartless to put your child's drawings in the [can]," one viewer commented, with another writing: "Imagine throwing any of your child's artwork in the [can]."

Others, however, were stunned at the criticism. One wrote: "The comments are wild, like I keep some of my kids' art but a single bit of popcorn glued to a piece of paper.. Nah."

Another suggested: "I always say to my son 'is this special or can it go to the [can] fairy' that way I don't chuck out something that is special to him. He's happy to feed the [can] fairy sometimes." A third, meanwhile, added: "My daughter was allowed 1 picture on the fridge and she got to choose when she swapped it out. the rest were recycled."

Writing alongside her video, Jopson said it was definitely a "lesson learned"—but not in the way some of the more sensitive viewers might have thought. "Always put kids' 'artwork' in the outdoor bin," she wrote. "I wouldn't do anything differently," Jopson said. "Other than be more careful she doesn't find it next time."

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