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Exactly. I was in Germany recently and saw small children walking home from school alone. In America, this can get parents arrested in many states. In Japan,

by magduf 8y ago

Exactly. I was in Germany recently and saw small children walking home from school alone. In America, this can get parents arrested in many states. In Japan, they basically force kids to walk to school without parents when they're 7-8 years old. If I ever have kids, I'd want to raise them someplace like that, not in a country where I'm legally required to be a helicopter parent until the kid is a legal adult.

GuiA 8y ago
Raising kids in Japan means that you’re raising them in a culture that has an alarmingly high youth suicide rate [0], and that your daughter taking the subway on her own is likely to be sexually assaulted [1]. And since the original link is about quality youth playtime, let’s not forget all the hours spent at cram schools in the evenings and weekends if you want a shot at a decent university. I’m not a big fan of the US either when it comes to parenting/educational trends, but there’s no silver bullet. (Unsurprised by the downvotes, given how fetishized Japan is in the West and how most are incapable of looking at the country through a critical lens) [0] https://www.humanium.org/en/child-suicide-in-japan-the-leading-cause-of-death-in-children/ https://www.humanium.org/en/child-suicide-in-japan-the-leadi... [1] https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/03/sexual-assault-japan-girl-victim-170307101413024.html https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/03/sexual-as...
- gumby 8y ago
  Not that this doesn't happen in the US: Palo Alto pays to have human guards at each rail crossing to discourage high schoolers from jumping in front of trains.
wil421 8y ago
I walked to school for 4 years in the US. Not to mention I biked or walked anywhere I could from about 6-16. No one is stopping kids and then arresting parents, it’s absurd to say. It did happen in Maryland. Guess what? The CPS completely changed their rules after the justified outcry.[1] Not a single person was arrested in this matter. [1]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meitiv_incidents https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meitiv_incidents
- MBCook 8y ago
  People usually don’t hear the retraction, only the initial story. Because this happens every once in a while it’s very easy to get the idea it’s an official policy and you can get in trouble for it. And the consequences are so high people don’t want to risk it. Add that to internal fear about stranger danger and the kid getting lost or hurt and is it any wonder people tend towards not allowing this stuff?
  - wil421 8y ago
    You’re right, I had to go to Wikipedia to find the end result. USA Today had the initial incident but no follow up.
- magduf 8y ago
  I walked to school as a young kid too in the US, but that was decades ago. Things have completely changed so you and I were children.
- magduf 8y ago
  I'd also like to point out that the entire state of Utah felt it necessary to pass a law making "free range parenting" (letting your kids run around outside unattended) legal, because they had so many problems with people calling the police. Remember, any time the police are called, even if it's stupid, they have to show up and investigate, and when there's no parents around, that means they have to find them, and at the minimum you have a giant hassle on your hands. Even in the incident you cite, the CPS did act badly, and that was just in one place. Why did they ever get to the point where they acted like that in the first place? It would have been unthinkable in other developed nations. And in your own link, the last line is: "The encounters between the Meitivs and the government have led to an intense debate among parents and educators.[" Why is there an "intense debate" about this? Obviously it's a big, big issue in the US, or else there wouldn't be any "intense debate" about it.
- soperj 8y ago
  Supreme Court in BC ruled that kids being left alone under the age of 10 wasn't allowed. So apparently Canada is worse.
briandear 8y ago
I live on a NASA/military base near Mountain View, my 4, 6 and 7 year olds routinely ride their bikes to the other side of the airfield — pretty much all over the place and the NASA and military cops just wave at them. The entire enclave is like that: kids can explore and do whatever and as long as they don’t try to leave the base. They’re not only safe, but everyone around her keeps an eye on everyone else. My 4 year old thought he was going to ride his little scooter to downtown Mountain View and the gate sentries stopped him and pointed him back to safety. I point this out as a contrast to their school neighborhood in Palo Alto: if they roamed around like that there, they’d likely be run over by a Tesla, hit by a bus or some Palo Alto matron would call the cops and have me arrested for negligence. This isn’t meant to be too political, but in very “rich white liberal” places, the propensity for collective freak outs over “neglect” is much greater than anything I have experienced living in more “red” or minority areas. Anecdotal certainly, but it does feel like areas like Palo Alto or Upper West Side NYC would be more likely to call CPS/Police or kids that weren’t properly ensconced in their Mandarin or ballet classes.
- magduf 8y ago
  As a liberal, I hate to admit, but you're totally correct here. For one thing, military bases are not at all representative of regular USA; they're operated by the DOD and rules there are entirely different than in civilian places, and are largely up to the discretion of the base commander, not the local police department and courts. Also, the way things are in small towns ("red") is completely different than in both urban areas and also in rich suburban areas. Where I expect people to call the cops is in the rich suburban areas, which aren't exactly what I'd call "bright blue", they're really their own weird version of purple (lots of Republican voters in those places, but they're not like the Republicans on military bases or in small town USA).

by magduf 8y ago

GuiA 8y ago

Raising kids in Japan means that you’re raising them in a culture that has an alarmingly high youth suicide rate [0], and that your daughter taking the subway on her own is likely to be sexually assaulted [1]. And since the original link is about quality youth playtime, let’s not forget all the hours spent at cram schools in the evenings and weekends if you want a shot at a decent university. I’m not a big fan of the US either when it comes to parenting/educational trends, but there’s no silver bullet. (Unsurprised by the downvotes, given how fetishized Japan is in the West and how most are incapable of looking at the country through a critical lens) [0] https://www.humanium.org/en/child-suicide-in-japan-the-leading-cause-of-death-in-children/ https://www.humanium.org/en/child-suicide-in-japan-the-leadi... [1] https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/03/sexual-assault-japan-girl-victim-170307101413024.html https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/03/sexual-as...

gumby 8y ago
Not that this doesn't happen in the US: Palo Alto pays to have human guards at each rail crossing to discourage high schoolers from jumping in front of trains.

wil421 8y ago

I walked to school for 4 years in the US. Not to mention I biked or walked anywhere I could from about 6-16. No one is stopping kids and then arresting parents, it’s absurd to say. It did happen in Maryland. Guess what? The CPS completely changed their rules after the justified outcry.[1] Not a single person was arrested in this matter. [1]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meitiv_incidents https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meitiv_incidents

MBCook 8y ago
People usually don’t hear the retraction, only the initial story. Because this happens every once in a while it’s very easy to get the idea it’s an official policy and you can get in trouble for it. And the consequences are so high people don’t want to risk it. Add that to internal fear about stranger danger and the kid getting lost or hurt and is it any wonder people tend towards not allowing this stuff?
- wil421 8y ago
  You’re right, I had to go to Wikipedia to find the end result. USA Today had the initial incident but no follow up.
magduf 8y ago
I walked to school as a young kid too in the US, but that was decades ago. Things have completely changed so you and I were children.
magduf 8y ago
I'd also like to point out that the entire state of Utah felt it necessary to pass a law making "free range parenting" (letting your kids run around outside unattended) legal, because they had so many problems with people calling the police. Remember, any time the police are called, even if it's stupid, they have to show up and investigate, and when there's no parents around, that means they have to find them, and at the minimum you have a giant hassle on your hands. Even in the incident you cite, the CPS did act badly, and that was just in one place. Why did they ever get to the point where they acted like that in the first place? It would have been unthinkable in other developed nations. And in your own link, the last line is: "The encounters between the Meitivs and the government have led to an intense debate among parents and educators.[" Why is there an "intense debate" about this? Obviously it's a big, big issue in the US, or else there wouldn't be any "intense debate" about it.
soperj 8y ago
Supreme Court in BC ruled that kids being left alone under the age of 10 wasn't allowed. So apparently Canada is worse.

briandear 8y ago

I live on a NASA/military base near Mountain View, my 4, 6 and 7 year olds routinely ride their bikes to the other side of the airfield — pretty much all over the place and the NASA and military cops just wave at them. The entire enclave is like that: kids can explore and do whatever and as long as they don’t try to leave the base. They’re not only safe, but everyone around her keeps an eye on everyone else. My 4 year old thought he was going to ride his little scooter to downtown Mountain View and the gate sentries stopped him and pointed him back to safety. I point this out as a contrast to their school neighborhood in Palo Alto: if they roamed around like that there, they’d likely be run over by a Tesla, hit by a bus or some Palo Alto matron would call the cops and have me arrested for negligence. This isn’t meant to be too political, but in very “rich white liberal” places, the propensity for collective freak outs over “neglect” is much greater than anything I have experienced living in more “red” or minority areas. Anecdotal certainly, but it does feel like areas like Palo Alto or Upper West Side NYC would be more likely to call CPS/Police or kids that weren’t properly ensconced in their Mandarin or ballet classes.

magduf 8y ago
As a liberal, I hate to admit, but you're totally correct here. For one thing, military bases are not at all representative of regular USA; they're operated by the DOD and rules there are entirely different than in civilian places, and are largely up to the discretion of the base commander, not the local police department and courts. Also, the way things are in small towns ("red") is completely different than in both urban areas and also in rich suburban areas. Where I expect people to call the cops is in the rich suburban areas, which aren't exactly what I'd call "bright blue", they're really their own weird version of purple (lots of Republican voters in those places, but they're not like the Republicans on military bases or in small town USA).