4 ms·

I'm in the Philippines. I was down the sari-sari store yesterday (the Filipino version of a bodega, but not walk-in...more like a storefront with a little door

by wyclif 4y ago

I'm in the Philippines. I was down the sari-sari store yesterday (the Filipino version of a bodega, but not walk-in...more like a storefront with a little door where you push your money through and the owner pushes items out in return). Little kids run around unsupervised here all the time, and nobody bats an eye. Anyway while I was there laid out on a bamboo bench drinking a beer, there must have been five or six kids under four years old who came down there alone with change to buy something for their parents. So different from the helicopter parenting I'm used to seeing back home.

gexla 4y ago
Those kids were probably from relatively poor families. The neighborhood I live in, the kids of person who is probably the most well off hardly leave the house. When they do, they are closely watched by the helper.
- herbst 4y ago
  That's a single exception tho. In general it's pretty obvious that the general child has way more freedom nearly everywhere than the typical child in the US.
  - wyclif 4y ago
    Yep, that's precisely the point I was trying to make.
jpgvm 4y ago
Pretty similar in Thailand. I normally live in Bangkok and even the rich kids that attend the expensive International School nearby frequent the malls and park nearby with no supervision. There is definitely still some overly-sheltered children but it seems far from the default. My GFs hometown in Nakkon Si Thammarat (Southern Thailand, semi-rural) kids play outside just like we did when we were kids (90s, Australia). The insane helicopter parenting seems to be US phenomena primarily but is also spreading to other Western-sphere countries like Australia.