American isolationism creates fearfulness.
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.
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-leadi...
[1] https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/03/sexual-as...
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.
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?
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.
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).
that has a lot more to due with safe transit. I would NOT send a 10 year old kid to take BART or MUNI by themselves. In fact i literally know a couple who's 12 year old son basically got intimidated into giving away their iPod on MUNI.
While I'm sure the financial loss was irritating, if this is the worst that comes from letting children ride transit alone, I'd consider it an acceptable cost. Depending on the details, it could even make for a good learning experience.
You may not have defended what happened but if you don’t think it’s acceptable either my reading comprehension or your writing needs work.
I think they meant 'acceptable cost' from the perspective of a parent deciding whether to let their children use public transport unsupervised. Meaning: despite the risk, it's still worth letting them roam free. (Not meaning: it's socially or morally acceptable that people sometimes intimidate and rob children.)
I agree that it's a big deal (and perhaps more to the point, in a place where this happens, it's unlikely to actually be the worst thing that happens). But I don't think Wowfunhappy meant 'acceptable' in the way you might have read it. I think they meant it is outweighed by the benefit of being free to travel alone.
I mean, the "lunch money stolen by the bully" is a trope to this day and is pretty much the very same thing like a stolen iPod.
While it wasn't nice, it at least taught me a couple of things about life and gave me more confidence when dealing with high-stress/tension situations and the ability to mostly recognize them before they fully escalate.
I’d argue it has a lot to do with the increasingly far-flung suburban housing that most people live in, and how dangerous the roads are.
1. Parents don’t want their kids getting hit by cars.
2. As they get older parents let them walk around the neighborhood —— but there’s nothing there except boring locked houses and front yards that, if you try to play in, you’ll get yelled at or worse.
3. The sprawl means even in these burbs there often aren’t many other kids around.
This terrible sprawl creates the reality that if you want your kids to get to hang out with other kids, or go to school, or go to a friends house, or do ANYTHING, you have to drive them there. And that’s such a time suck it’s not realistic to do all the time. Thus the helicopter parenting shuttling kids from one activity to another and then when exhausted saying “just watch Netflix.”
It's my understanding that it's a big part of their process of growing up - as it should be. There are actually TV shows in Japan secretly filming and celebrating young kids' first errands. It's adorable really.
edit - here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5k5XTZy0rA
[0]: http://archive.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2007/08/...
Don't mention the R word.