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Why are little kids in Japan so independent?

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Re: Why are little kids in Japan so independent?

#11

Post by nostromo »

alexleavitt wrote: post #8

> "Japan has a very low crime rate, which is surely a key reason parents feel confident about sending their kids out alone. But small-scaled urban spaces and a culture of walking and transit use also foster safety and, perhaps just as important, the perception of safety." Honestly, this perception – that they try to place secondary – is KEY. Living in Japan, it's a stark contrast to walking around the States in any m…

New York has a walking and transit culture similar to Tokyo. Yet most New Yorkers would not feel comfortable sending a six year old out alone. I don't think walking and transit use is alone responsible for the difference.

Re: Why are little kids in Japan so independent?

#12

Post by callmeed »

ansible wrote: post #5

And this is in stark contrast to my neighborhood in the USA, where parents will wait with their children for the schoolbus pickup... not even a block from their own house. Now granted, we occasionally have reckless drivers speeding down the street. There isn't as much respect for pedestrians in the USA, so I guess that's a factor.

This is funny because 2 of my kids get off the bus exactly 1 block from our house. I believe we are the only parents who let them walk home from there.

Re: Why are little kids in Japan so independent?

#13

Post by jandrese »

russnewcomer wrote: post #7

Reading this article, I can forsee comments about how American kids are being messed up since they can't go and do things freely, pointing to this story about Japan as an example. While I myself would wish to live in a community where this kind of behavior is OK or encouraged (I'd like for my son to be able to walk to the grocery store a quarter mile away at age 6 or 7 without fear of societal repercussions), I also…

There were articles from just a couple of months ago about parents being charged with child endangerment for allowing their 10 year old to walk home from the bus stop in a safe neighborhood.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/13/parents...

Re: Why are little kids in Japan so independent?

#14

Post by [deleted] »

nostromo wrote: post #11
alexleavitt wrote: post #8

> "Japan has a very low crime rate, which is surely a key reason parents feel confident about sending their kids out alone. But small-scaled urban spaces and a culture of walking and transit use also foster safety and, perhaps just as important, the perception of safety." Honestly, this perception – that they try to place secondary – is KEY. Living in Japan, it's a stark contrast to walking around the States in any m…

New York has a walking and transit culture similar to Tokyo. Yet most New Yorkers would not feel comfortable sending a six year old out alone. I don't think walking and transit use is alone responsible for the difference.

[deleted]

Re: Why are little kids in Japan so independent?

#15

Post by ajkjk »

nostromo wrote: post #11
alexleavitt wrote: post #8

> "Japan has a very low crime rate, which is surely a key reason parents feel confident about sending their kids out alone. But small-scaled urban spaces and a culture of walking and transit use also foster safety and, perhaps just as important, the perception of safety." Honestly, this perception – that they try to place secondary – is KEY. Living in Japan, it's a stark contrast to walking around the States in any m…

New York has a walking and transit culture similar to Tokyo. Yet most New Yorkers would not feel comfortable sending a six year old out alone. I don't think walking and transit use is alone responsible for the difference.

I don't think anyone perceives New York as safe enough for sending children out alone.

Re: Why are little kids in Japan so independent?

#16

Post by sithadmin »

nostromo wrote: post #11
alexleavitt wrote: post #8

> "Japan has a very low crime rate, which is surely a key reason parents feel confident about sending their kids out alone. But small-scaled urban spaces and a culture of walking and transit use also foster safety and, perhaps just as important, the perception of safety." Honestly, this perception – that they try to place secondary – is KEY. Living in Japan, it's a stark contrast to walking around the States in any m…

New York has a walking and transit culture similar to Tokyo. Yet most New Yorkers would not feel comfortable sending a six year old out alone. I don't think walking and transit use is alone responsible for the difference.

>New York has a walking and transit culture similar to Tokyo.

That's more or less where the similarities end

Re: Why are little kids in Japan so independent?

#17

Post by Torgo »

Mz wrote: post #4

Japan has a very low crime rate, which is surely a key reason parents feel confident about sending their kids out alone. They mention a lot of good things. What they don't mention is that Japan has a relatively high average age. It is a country full of old people. In Africa, when too many adult elephants get killed, you see unsupervised adolescent elephants get injuries that essentially never happen if there are enou…

It was extremely safe 20, 30 years ago too. I don't believe this is a factor.

Re: Why are little kids in Japan so independent?

#18

Post by [deleted] »

nostromo wrote: post #11
alexleavitt wrote: post #8

> "Japan has a very low crime rate, which is surely a key reason parents feel confident about sending their kids out alone. But small-scaled urban spaces and a culture of walking and transit use also foster safety and, perhaps just as important, the perception of safety." Honestly, this perception – that they try to place secondary – is KEY. Living in Japan, it's a stark contrast to walking around the States in any m…

New York has a walking and transit culture similar to Tokyo. Yet most New Yorkers would not feel comfortable sending a six year old out alone. I don't think walking and transit use is alone responsible for the difference.

[deleted]

Re: Why are little kids in Japan so independent?

#19

Post by Zelphyr »

chollida1 wrote: post #2

> This assumption is reinforced at school, where children take turns cleaning and serving lunch instead of relying on staff to perform such duties. This “distributes labor across various shoulders and rotates expectations, while also teaching everyone what it takes to clean a toilet, for instance,” Dixon says. > Taking responsibility for shared spaces means that children have pride of ownership and understand in a co…

Also a Montessori parent and I couldn't agree more.

Our kids were in a private Montessori school from Pre-K to 1st. Due to some issues with the owner (that unfortunately forced her to shut the school down) we had to put my daughter in public school for the remainder of 1st grade. She hated it. She kept asking us, "Why do I have to sit at that desk all day?"

Contrast that to their new school where on the first Back To School Night, one kid was literally jumping up and down excited to start school the next day.

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