Japan CELEBRATES Kids on Errands Alone (Instead of Arresting their Parents)

There is no epidemic for parents getting arrested for letting their children run errands.

The younger sister in this video is absolutely precious and mature to keep her older brother on task even though he is crying.
This is a HOOT.

I also saw this link and thought how ridiculously backwards our country is going in terms of supervision requirements for all children.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/08/12/339825261/global-parenting-habits-that-havent-caught-on-in-the-u-s?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20140812

And Dirk, do you seriously have to troll every thread here? I need more coffee to even comprehend what your point is.

The Japanese also have a bigger sense of community than we do, although socially that is somewhat changing with the low birth rate but it’s far better than here where you get people filming your kids on a cell phone rather than help out.

A lot of this has to do with the crappy media in this country, both hysterical news and fictionalized TV. That point has been made over and over again on this blog.

I managed to watch one episode of Bubble Wrap Kids (Lenore’s show was called in Canada) but all the rest of it is locked up with a Canadian copyright. I’ve enquired about getting it put on Hulu or Netflix.

My First Errand is successful in Japan, but I don’t see it flying here in the US. There is no edge of the seat drama of a kid going to the library and not getting raped and murdered. This show is the anthesis of Nancy Grace, America’s Most Wanted, or anything broadcast on C&I.

Lets be honest, sex sells. Either they rope you with people you want to have sex with or they rope you in by torturing people with perverted sex (the train wreck approach). Why else would Law & Order: SVU still be on the air?

Warren, I love your definition of stranger danger! Having lived overseas in different cultures before I had kids, I thought that was normal. What a shock when I allowed my daughter, 5 at the time, to play in the front yard alone! Of course I’m keeping an eye out here and there, and we live in a great neighborhood. But, wow, the shock and dismay from my MIL and own mother! Regarding errands, out here in suburbia we have very few small shops that I could send her into. None within walking distance. (“Here honey, take $300 and go to Costco for me.”) But maybe at a strip mall where I can park in front, she can help me out by letting me stay in the car while she runs in for something. Hmm. She would love that! Kind of flips the rules against leaving your kids in the car. Is it legal to leave your mommy and brother in the car while you run in for just a second? 😉

I like Warren’s definition for it too.

Sorry about being an ass. I mean it. It’s just lets be the sane people in this world and not the other end of the extreme.

When I was Kindergarten I walked to school. In first grad I could go to the playground at the end of my street. In 3rd grade I would wait outside at 7 am for my school bus and by 5th grade I was a full on latchkey kid. I get it.

Japan is safer than the U.S.? I find it difficult to believe that a city the size of Tokyo has a lower crime rate than most major cities in the U.S. Well, if the data indicates that then so be it. Regardless of the crime stats, kudos to the Japanese for encouraging free rangeness among their children! The USA needs to learn and emulate these things from countries like Japan and the Philippines, but I’m not holding my breath.

The author of this article had mentioned how the community (in Japan) watch over or help the kids without intervening. Didn’t it used to be that way here in America? Does anybody here remember the “Block Parent”? This was a popular concept in the 70s where people would put a sign in their windows indicating they were a “Block Parent” meaning that if any kid was hurt or in distress for any reason that he (she) should not be afraid to knock on the door of a “Block Parent” and the person(s) who live in that house would gladly assist the youngster. But it was emphasized to kids that a Block Parent was there only to help kids if they were in some type of trouble and the youngster should not be knocking on a Block Parent’s door if they merely wanted a drink of water or to use the bathroom.

Well, I have not seen nor heard of the “Block Parent” concept in probably 35 years, unless I’m missing something. Perhaps our hysteria in believing that EVERYBODY is a potential sex offender and that all “sex offenders” are a danger to children, has got the best of us.

I meant that one sentence to say:

I have never MET anyone who was arrested for allowing their kids to do anything ever.

There is a hysteria here that parents get arrested and so forth. That rarely ever happens (I know this to be true because people leave their 10 year olds alone at home every day…EVERY DAY…and nothing bad happens). “Consciously focus yourself on the evidence around you that the news is picking out the extremes and the bad things…” The blog entries on this site are the extreme minority of happenings. Parents do not regularly get arrested for leaving their kids home alone or letting them go to the playground. It is so rare it virtually never happens. You could find more articles online about kids getting killed each day with handguns than parents getting arrested for letting a 10 year spend a few hours at home alone. Doesn’t mean the world isn’t safe and it doesn’t mean parents get arrested all the time. You, I, we should all be careful to not replace one sense of extremism with another (don’t replace the false idea that the world is an unsafe place with another false idea that the world is persecuting you.) Follow the last advice of the journalism linked in the blog article. “Overall, of course, it’s both unrealistic and undesirable to construct bubbles that keep out the world’s bad news. But there’s a difference between being informed and being obsessive, and it’s a line that’s very easy to accidentally slide across in an age when there’s so much information zipping around,” Parents free range or not…believe this…the world is safe and you are not being persecuted.

http://www.japanprobe.com/2010/08/01/first-errand-failure/

Nice to know there are still sane parts of the world. We adults need to get our act together. It’s NOT all about us!!!! Children from a very early age need to know that they are “useful” . That may sound ridiculous to contemporary adults. But it is not.  From time immemorial children have felt connected and needed – because they were. Today, children are seen as incompetent, naive, innocent, stupid even – victims of not being adults. Sigh. I repeat this ad nauseum. But it needs repeating : We are, (as focused as we are on ourselves) the greatest danger to our children.

A few years ago the German TV program “Galileo” did a segment about the most unusual ways that kids around the world go to school. Some very young (1st and 2nd grade age) Chinese kids were filmed walking to school on a mountain trail. It took them over an hour each way, which included time to stop for a snack. The first few times they would go with an adult. Once they knew the way, they went without adult accompaniment but with a buddy. There were African kids who walked 30 minutes, then took a boat in a crocodile-infested lake. A group of schoolchildren in Siberia walked to school in minus 30 C (minus 22 F) weather. They did have an adult with them, but he was one of the teachers.

It would be nice if they could show kids in the States doing what we considered normal when we were kids, if only to prove that they are perfectly safe activities. We’re not in rural China, Africa, or Siberia. But it would be great if people could realize that their little Snowflakes aren’t in grave danger any time they are allowed to do something on their own.

http://www.childhoodfreedom.com/

I wish I could understand what they’re saying. A few observations:

1. Great that mom didn’t give in to the crying…she must have told him he’d be fine. I love that attitude.
2. If I saw a young child walking down a road crying, I definitely would stop and ask if s/he was ok. In this case, I can imagine that the sister would have reassured me.
3. If this is a regular situation in Japan, why didn’t we see ANY other kids, of ANY age, doing errands? Just wondering.
4. The scene at the playground was priceless. That’s when I REALLY wanted to understand the dialogue!

Dirk – There may not be an “epidemic” of parents being arrested for child endangerment although their children were never in danger, but there does appear to be a growing trend in that direction. Like you, I’ve never personally met someone who was arrested for something like this, but I do know people who support the use of the criminal justice system in this context, and the trend shows no signs of slowing down. If you’re so annoyed by discussion of this topic, why are you here?

Sorry for the double post. Thought I had caught the first one before it posted so I could edit 😀

@Gina: It’s a TV show, not regular daily life. I wouldn’t be surprised if they pick difficult errands on purpose (3-4 different shops, products/words the kids aren’t really familiar with), simply because it’s funny to see them try and maybe fail, maybe succeed. Again, the fact that they have trouble remembering what exactly they need to buy and come back HOURS later shows that they’re actually a bit too young and unreliable to be doing this on a regular basis to help out their mother. But for a comical show that’s perfect, and their pride when they succeed is a nice bonus.

@Maria– the boy wasn’t “hysterical” nor traumatized. If you watch the part 2, he’s beaming with pride at the end. It’s common for young kids to cry a bit when pushed outside their comfort zone, but that doesn’t mean it’s traumatic. Kids don’t self-regulate as well as adults; this is normal. If your kid never cries from frustration, his life is too easy and he’s not learning enough.

@mandy yeah I know this about kid’s self-regulating, not only do I have one of my own but I was a preschool teacher for years and the beginning where he is crying for his mother is a bit disturbing, that’s all. Further, I don’t equate “freedom” with having a kid stop on a street to get tissues–this is just unsafe and stupid. How is this free? What is it teaching them?

@pappilo then what’s the point of posting it as something to show kids are independent? It’s a staged production and therefore it proves nothing about kids being “free” or independent.

Maybe we can start simply… if you want to see independent and responsible American kids – look on farms.

While the family farm is going the way of the Dodo bird, farm kids start early being responsible, having legitimate responsibilities, and develop a work ethic that I rarely see in other kids. The only exception is a former student that helped out on his dad’s lobster boat. Working develops work ethic and a sense of responsibility. Shocking, I know.

I am not advocating in pushing lots of child labor, but there does seem to be some optimal balance.

Dirk actually brings up a good point. As we rail against the evils of corporations and media preying on fear to sell products, we have to be certain we don’t use these same techniques.

That said, Dirk, I missed where anyone in this article said that there is an “epidemic” of parents being arrested.

Very sweet! I wonder if boys do cry more at that age about being ‘out of their comfort zone’? I know when I was New Entrant teaching it did seem to be more boys reluctant to leave Mum than girls, but not by great amounts…

@Gina – yeah, I would probably have asked the boy if he was okay too, though I think you’re right, the wee girl would probably have set us straight :-).

Boy went shopping by himself at about that age, though on the same block as us, so not a big deal. Everyone was always very helpful and friendly, and he learnt a bit of Malay faster than he would have with me there :-). He didn’t do a lot independently at home in NZ though, as there aren’t a lot of cheap shops within walking distance of our place.

Dirk,

Arrest isn’t the only issue.

We’ve had a number of regular posters here who have stated that CPS has investigated them for things that used to be routine kid activities.

We’ve had a number of people here who have been questioned by the police for allowing their children to do what used to be normal childhood activities, even though no arrest ultimately occurred.

We’ve had a number of people who have been warned to stop allowing their children to do certain activities or a report would be made to CPS or the police.

We’ve had a number of people here who have had their children stopped or brought home by police for being outside alone.

We are a small group and I highly doubt that we are somehow uniquely unfortunate and are the only people in the US who are running into these issues. I don’t think that this is happening daily, but it does appear to be a growing trend. You can hide your head in the sand and wait until it actually becomes an epidemic if you choose.

@Maria: “then what’s the point of posting it ” Ask Lenore, it’s not my blog.
But like I said, they still more or less succeed in doing the task and the little boy was actually proud at the end of the second segment. So while I think this show – unlike Lenore’s show – mainly exists because it’s funny, and doubt parents let children this young disappear for hours on complicated errands (but who am I, I don’t live in Japan), it’s not like these kids don’t benefit from it at all.

@Maria “what’s the point of posting it as something to show kids are independent? ”

It is meant to show that their kids are fully independent at age of three. More likely, it is meant to show difference in attitude: one culture finds the situation cute, funny and not harming at all. Another start panicking and accuse parents of neglect.

Although those kids are super proud in the end, that was not a goal. Which may be another point and difference: you expect some huge learning moments and points out of the whole thing. If they are not there, the whole thing is bad. They just enjoy watching the kid to overcome problems. If the kid is happy and unharmed in the end, they consider it good enough.

I love the idea of kids being given opportunities to have freedom and explore their world. If we expect very little of our kids, they will always stay little kids (even when they are 30 and living in our basements).

I like it because it gives kids the opportunity to assert themselves with adults and speak for themselves.

Japan’s culture, although somewhat Americanized, still holds closely to the principles of honor and shame culture wide, which is different then in the U.S. These Japanese kids aren’t left alone to fend for themselves with cameras watching their every move, and I am sure the store owners were prepped prior to their arrival.

I was wondering how many parents would feel comfortable letting them go without a film crew following.

Dirk, it is ‘et al.’, not ‘et all’, or were you trying to be clever?

While there does not appear to be an epidemic of parent arrests, I am not aware of any study on this topic or any easy way to track this kind of data. I can tell you from working closely with CPS, family court, and the judicial system, that there is anecdotal evidence to suggest that some parenting behaviors that would have been deemed acceptable in the past are not as acceptable now and that parents are being seen as putting their kids at risk for these things even if they are not hurt.

We also are seeing (in some states) legislatures addressing these issues with changes in the laws. Currently, 19 states (including mine), have added laws to address this in the last 10 years.

In terms of the changes I mentioned, specifically, I meant to say that 19 states have added laws dealing with kids being left in cars.

My ex threatened to call in the ‘authorities” because I let our then-grade-two son walk a mile to school. He was happy, proud, and kinder to his little sister that day, but as soon as my ex found out about it, the boy was told that it was “wrong,” and I got the warning about CPS.

A buddy of mine in my pristine town had the police summoned because their two grade-school-aged boys were playing in the pristine park “alone” (their house is a couple doors down from the park).

In both cases, behaviour that was seen as utterly normal before the 24-hour news cycle began was called out as “in disagreement with current interpretations of child ‘endangerment.’ laws.”

I think there are just as many parents caught totally off-guard by “well-meaning” bystanders who call the cops on “helpless kids who shouldn’t be doing what they’re doing” as there are vocal dissenters who are well aware with this sea change in attitude that occurred since their own childhoods and purposely, civilly “disobey.”

Whether you’re aware or unaware of the suddenly subversive nature of allowing your child to behave as children did for nearly the entirety of human evolution, having the authorities come in and mess with your family when your kids are being well-loved and cared for SUCKS.

And I know that this was NOT how things were before “child abuse” became this ever-more-fantastic category which has come to include any bystander’s “what if” thoughts.

Epidemic? Well, here’s the thing. Stranger abductions are not epidemic. They’ve always happened at about the same per capita rate. No spikes recently. Kids dying in hot cars is still a very small number, and before “no babies in the front seat” laws, was much smaller still. I can’t call that one an epidemic.

But the thing about people calling the cops or reporting to CPS about perfectly healthy, well-loved children who are NOT being injured, and the authorities actually prosecuting the parents who have been reported, well, that just didn’t happen in the 1970s. In fact, there were hardly any calls to the authorities even if the kids were coming to frank, obvious harm. The culture was much more willing to “look away” from “family matters” like incest, cigarette burns, and bruised ribcages.

Well, I think we could do with a little more looking away again. Or looking, but not reporting. Sure, report cigarette burns. Sure, incest. Sure, bruised ribcages.

But not kids playing happily in the park. Not kids walking around town to find their way to things they want to do. Not kids happily waiting for a few minutes in the car.

The reporting is epidemic. It never existed, and now it does, far more than anyone sane could possibly say is working for children and their families.

That was too cute. The little boy reminded me of my 4yo son. He throws a fit any time he’s pushed out of his comfort zone. He’s a big baby sometimes. I’m working with him on it. He recently learned to pick up his feet on his glide bike (small bike without pedals). A day before that he was scared to go more then a walking pace. Then BAM he’s balancing like a champ at high speed.

Today I took my older four kids (14, 12, 11 and 8) back to school shopping. While at Kohl’s they all freely wandered around the store while we shopped. The same at a very busy Walmart (at least for our area). At one point the oldest got bored and her and the youngest went out to the car with the keys so they could listen to the radio. She didn’t ask for the keys, I offered them. At some point the 12yo went out. I had no idea where he was, but we didn’t see him while we continued our shopping so I assumed he went to the car. He came in looking for us just as we were checking out.

No harm came to anyone (except maybe the poor car–they were all sitting on the roof of the truck when I got out there) and no police were called.

Earlier in the year I took the kids shopping at Goodwill. The girls got bored and went out to the car. At some point the oldest came back in leaving the 8yo in the car alone. With the windows down!!!! I worried someone might make a comment about her being alone but if anyone noticed her sitting sullenly in the car they didn’t say anything. It’s pretty normal around here to see kids waiting in cars at her age and walking around stores on their own. By middle school, kids are hanging out at Safeway on their own. My 14yo says she knows the names of all the girls that work at the Starbucks kiosk because she’s there so often.

SteveS, I was just typing fast. It is a phrase used where I work so it is a habit.

As a child in the 1830s President Grant for example was a horse trader and ran part of his parents farm by age 11. His memoirs contain a wonderful description of this time. In American up through the 19th century children were seen basically as little adults to a degree. Foreigners writing travel logs would not time and again how responsible American children were but also that they were insolent, that they treated adults as equals. This was most likely because children were treated as adults by their American parents to a degree. The added responsibility makes sense because, by age 11 you were essential through almost a quarter of your life. In 1900, life expectancy in the United States was 47 years, and only four percent of the population was 65 or older. The idea of childhood didn’t exist until the 20th century when universal education became required and children were removed from the labor pool. Being contained in a classroom I suppose limits your ability to learn horsemanship and farming and the sense of adult level responsibility that Grant learned. It at least makes it harder. After WWII children were given free range pretty much. The likes of Dr. Spock, who proves parental worry isn’t a new thing, provided guides saying essentially to love on your kid. It was a permissive parenting style that was opposed to the authoritarianism of earlier time periods. Ironically, this also meant that kids would be left to do what they wanted despite the extra affection Dr. Spock promoted. Permissive parenting accidentally promoted free range parenting again! Parents were closer to their children, treated them as children, but let them run off too. Parents were not involved directly in every decision children made. Today, for various reasons, the media, the economy, a sense of competition and living with a worry that resources are dwindling parents are uber involved in every decision of a child’s life. Helicoptering is real.

But not everything is negative. An infant was four times more likely to die in the 1950s than today. A parent then was three times more likely than a modern one to preside at the funeral of a child under the age of 15, and 27 percent more likely to lose an older teen to death. Despite rumors to the contrary test scores are routinely up for high school students. (It is called the Flynn Effect, essentially each generation scores higher than the previous on IQ tests such as the SAT. So test makers have to make the test harder every 10 to 20 years or so to keep scores inline.) Studies show that Millennials are good at saving money, regularly read newspapers, and are inclined to accept challenges.

@ Jen(P): you took the words right out of my mouth. Well said.

@ Dirk: It may not be an epidemic, but as Jen said, it’s moving in that direction. Think of the new rules and policies created in the last 10 years. Those started from small incidences, and growing fears of parents, and owners of establishments and institutions. All major issues ALWAYS stem from smaller issues that got out of control. This trend, if not put in check, WILL spiral out of control. And this “non-epidemic”, may just turn into one.

And really, as “rare” as it is. It shouldn’t be happening at all. It’s only in the last 5 years, this has been happening more frequently (as rare as it is). What would your theory be for this trend? So plain and simple, if this happened (if at all) far less 20+ years ago, why is it happening more now? It’s called paranoia. Spread by media, and here say.

I understand your “extreme opposite side of the spectrum”. But as I mentioned before, in the last 15-20 years, with the help of the internet, people have been “shocked” into this new way of fearing and thinking. They have been conditioned over a short period of time to be the way they are. And just like anyone overcoming an addiction, you have to shock their system going cold turkey. It’s no different promoting the idealogy that people are far too fearful, and that their is dire consequences for their actions based on those fears.

Personally, I prefer the “fear mongering” to get people to start using common sense again. And stop getting involved in other people’s business in a negative way. Much better than the “fear mongering” that is making people stupid, paranoid, and illogical. Just as the video shows above. I don’t know how old you are, but THAT was the norm when I was their age. Kids watched out for each other. Parents watched out for other kids like they were their own. “Strangers” did the same.

What would your rather have? A society like that? Or a society filled with fear and self-centredness? You can’t to one or the other without knocking a few heads along the way. All depends on what you want to promote. Because in this day and age, outside factors doesn’t allow for a middle ground. You have to pick one or the other. When people start thinking with reason again, then you can slowly slow things down, and iron the wrinkles. We first need to get to that point first.

My goodness, little boys cry. A preschool teacher who thinks that little bit of crying is a problem disturbs me.

The little boy was probably worried that he would not succeed in this rather complex (for his age) errand. That is NORMAL and I feel the same way in my job more often than I admit. But I’m not a little boy so I don’t cry about it.

If this little boy was not encouraged to keep going despite the crying, he would never have had the great feeling of accomplishment and the boost of confidence for the next task. How is that healthy?

Reminds me of a song lyric – “newborn eyes always cry with pain at the first look at the morning sun. Fool if you think it’s over – it’s just begun.”

“I know multiple people (in real life) who have been interfered with by police or CPS because of making a parenting choice that was safe in the circumstances.

And in the current environment, there are probably more people who have had this happen but aren’t telling everyone they know, because it is embarrassing.”

My embarrassing story — A police officer, who was trying to serve me with a witness subpoena, panicked because he could see my four-year-old through the window of my home and I was not answering the door. I didn’t hear the doorbell because I had the fan running and was trying to soothe a fussy baby upstairs. Fortunately, I heard the phone when he had dispatch call me while he was trying the back door and was about to break in. So thankful I wasn’t next door, chatting with a neighbor.

Dirk, if I knew you in real life, I probably would not tell you about my run-ins with the authorities. You come across as both judgmental and irrational.

SKL, I just don’t live a life that has “run ins with the authorities,” at least not ones that were definitely not my fault (like throwing beer bottles over fences, speeding, drinking in the woods as a teen, making out on a closed beach at night, etc all as a kid really…). I am sorry if you have had difficulties, I just think that difficulties are usually avoidable and that unwarranted ones are very few and far between (outside of racism, which I have seen and is ugly.)

Why have you had so many run ins with the authorities?

Dirk, I haven’t had “so many run-ins with the authorities.” When the custody of your kids is potentially at risk, one frivolous 911 call is too many.

A good friend deliberated a lot about whether or not to call CPS about her neighbours. A woman, recently divorced, had a daughter and son, ages 6 and 12 at the time. My friend heard many very loud conversations that sounded like arguing, screaming, and what sounded like objects hitting the walls inside.

But she also watched carefully to see that when the kids were out of the house with their mother, everyone seemed happy enough getting into the car or whatever. The boy had friends and played sports, the girl became friends with my buddy’s daughter, there were no signs of physical abuse.

So she decided not to call anyone. She wondered about this decision, because the screaming was frequent and loud, but looking back years later, it’s clear that intervention was not needed. The mom and her kids are doing fine.

My friend understood very well just what gets set in motion when you call in the authorities, and really searched her soul to decide whether this was the course of action to take. She dared not speak to her neighbour about the screaming, because she felt it would be too embarrassing for both of them, but she did step up her efforts to connect with the family and offer the daughter times to play at their house, etc.

Would it be that everyone might step back and carefully reason about whether or not to call in the authorities. “Connection before correction” is a phrase I live by…

@ no rest, my mom was a screamer. With a foul mouth. She also spanked, but she was not an abuser. She was (and is) a very loving mother who let the stress of being a working mom of 6 get the better of her at times. I’m sure our neighbors were not thrilled to hear it when she boiled over, but they understood what it was and what it wasn’t.

I am an adoptive mom. I understand how lucky I was that my mom’s custody of us kids was never disrupted. This month, my kids spent 10 days with my sister and parents, and they were pretty affected by the separation, even though they knew we would be reunited soon. People need to understand the damage done by jerking kids around when it is not necessary.

What do the tissues teach him? In Japan, there aren’t boxes of tissue around at schools, offices etc., and there generally isn’t toilet paper in in public bathrooms, etc. So everyone usually carries tissue and maybe a handkerchief with them. So the tissues are teaching him to always carry some for when he needs them 🙂

The crying is just the same as my youngest son (age 4) does when I go somewhere and leave him home with his father. But like this boy, he gets over it quickly.

This is the most hilarious thing I have seen in a long time! I love that little sister! Kids truly are capable of much more than we have grown accustomed to thinking they are.

Let Her Eat Dirt
http://www.lethereatdirt.com
A dad’s take on raising tough, adventurous girls

Please stop being a knee jerk reactionary. I the post by Lenore about the people who are ACTUALLY crazy about leaving kids in cars it reads: “I can’t help feel that their message is bringing attention to a “fad danger” rather than a statistically significant safety issue and encouraging people to call 911 regardless of circumstance.” Sorry to have to tell you but most of the things being posted as parenting dangers here (getting arrested for letting your kids play alone, outside, at the mall, leaving them in the car, and even the statutory rape stories) are all statistically significant “fad dangers” that really happening. They aren’t happening in any meaningful way, the number of occurrences are so low. More kids probably die in cars each than parents are arrested for leaving kids in the car. About 25% of parents leave their kids in the car for some amount of time today. There are about 70 million parent households (with either one or tow parents present-according to the 2007 census). 25% of that is 17,500,000. That is how many of current parents have left their children in cars for some amount of time. What percent of those do you think have been arrested? 17 million 500 thousand parents and what percent get arrested for it? Practically zero. Your fear of this thing has escalated to the point of hysteria.

Dirk, aside from your math being way off, the fact is that 25% of parents will *not* leave their kids in the car, because they are afraid to do it for the wrong reasons. That is the whole point. With campaigns telling everyone to call 911 if they see a kid in a car, regardless of circumstances, and people on that 20/20 trying to call even with the mother right there, and that lady being arrested for getting out of the car so she could smoke a cigarette, people are getting more and more afraid to do what makes the most sense. This is twisted. And it’s public officials who are creating this fear, even if you think the fear is overblown.

Non-Japanese parent raising a child in Japan here. Yes, kids do get sent on errands here. The key is that kids are typically sent with a sibling. So long as you have a sibling, kids are pretty much free to roam, often from the age of 2 or 3.

Our communities are accustomed to kids waling to and from school, forming small groups and playing in the parks and fields, or heading to the penny candy shop to buy junk food. For the school walks parents and elderly volunteers act as crossing guards. Still, there is a general idea that everyone is looking out for the community’s kids. Safe houses and shops have signs so that kids know where and who to ask for help. Younger students often wear hats and identifying badges. Older students are put in charge of making sure that all the younger kids in their area reach school safely and on time.

Traffic is always a concern, but I’m much more worried about my kid coming across a snake or wild boar more than any stranger danger. They do get the annual stranger danger talk at school, though, so it’s not as if Japan believes that it’s a perfectly safe country either.

It is not easy trying to mainstream a non-Japanese kid into the Japanese public school system, but the freedom and responsibility kids are given at an early age is one of the perks of living here.