Old Enough on Netflix

[JLTraveling]

Has anyone been watching this show? It's a Japanese show that's apparently been airing there for 30 years, but this is the first season on Netflix with English subtitles. Parents send their toddlers (ages 3-5 I think) out on errands by themselves--grocery store for a few items or to deliver a "forgotten" item to a parent or whatever. There are a lot of safety measures--the kids are surrounded by a crew, they let the shopkeepers know they're coming, it's all done in communities where the kids know most of the adults, etc. But the kids really do cross the street on their own and interact with adults and pay for items and carry them up to about a mile round-trip.

It's been absolutely fascinating to me. You can actually watch the wheels turning in their brains as they figure out what to do when things go wrong---one kid was carrying a cooler of fresh fish when the shoulder strap broke and the fish fell all over the ground, another kid dropped his apples down a steep hill, etc. And they eventually figure it out, ask for help if needed, and make it home with the errands complete.

What do you think? If you haven't watched, I suggest watching at least an episode or two before passing judgment. It's just so different from what we do here, and I'd love to hear people's thoughts.

 

[PollyannaMom]

It sounds a lot like our "Free Range Kids" projects. (And I'm sure they're safe with a whole camera crew looking on.) I'd give it a watch.

 

[DLgal]

I just read an article about this. It's common practice all over the world and would never fly here. This is why so many of our kids grow up to be so clueless about problem solving and interacting with others.

 

[ronandannette]

My DS turned me on to it. It's awesome and almost inconceivable to imagine our own kids doing anything similar.

 

[nicolita3]

This show is so cute some of these kids are really smart. Like the girl picking the cabbage, she eventually figured it out! I can't believe that some of these kids are 2 years old.

 

[Skippy918]

That wouldn’t fly here in the US. Cps would be called. It’s not even feasible for my teen to go to the store on their own cause it would take them 20-30 mins to bike there.

 

[mjkacmom]

That wouldn’t fly here in the US. Cps would be called. It’s not even feasible for my teen to go to the store on their own cause it would take them 20-30 mins to bike there.

Maybe not where you live, but my kids started walking to and from school in the second grade, when they were younger I’d send them to the mailbox a couple of blocks away (it’s no longer there). Elementary school students go out for for lunch starting 5th grade.

 

[unrequited23]

If I send DH to the store for 3 things he only comes back with 2. We joke that's why we have 2 kids instead of 3. The first episode, when the child realizes they forgot the third item (sweet curry) and goes back for it, earned DH a round of teasing.

It was fun to watch with the kids (10 & 7) to expand their idea of what kids are capable of doing.

 

[mjkacmom]

If I send DH to the store for 3 things he only comes back with 2. We joke that's why we have 2 kids instead of 3. The first episode, when the child realizes they forgot the third item (sweet curry) and goes back for it, earned DH a round of teasing.

It was fun to watch with the kids (10 & 7) to expand their idea of what kids are capable of doing.

Same husband, two is his limit (so if he’s going down to the basement I can’t ask him to switch the laundry and bring two things up, just one).

 

[Skippy918]

Maybe not where you live, but my kids started walking to and from school in the second grade, when they were younger I’d send them to the mailbox a couple of blocks away (it’s no longer there). Elementary school students go out for for lunch starting 5th grade.

Mine walked to the elementary school on their own, but it’s a 2 min walk. Our backyard faces the school yard. My son bikes to the middle school and he’ll bike or walk to high school. We live in a suburb so there really isn’t much that’s walking distance. Closest stores are 2+ miles away.

 

[luvsvacation]

I haven’t seen the show but I raised my kids this way (as much as possible). I always had them do as much on their own as they could. We had no where nearby to walk/bike to, but I had them wait in lines and pay for things on their own since about they were 5. They were allowed to go explore the neighborhood on their own and visit friends or go to the woods/creek a few streets over. I always treated them like they were capable. It used to drive my mom absolutely crazy that I would let them just go off to use the bathroom by themselves and tell them to meet back up with me in the grocery department or health and beauty or wherever I figured I’d be in 5 minutes. They are 20 & 18 now and quite independent. My daughter tells me of friends in her dorm who don’t know how to do things for themselves or worse who have parents who are still controlling them like telling them what major they have to have. I treated my kids like they were capable and could handle things. I was always here to give advice but not to step in. I came across free range kids when they were about 5/6 and absolutely loved it because it was basically what I was doing already and it gave me some confidence that what I was doing was good for my kids (quite a lot of people thought I was nuts). Kids are capable of so much more than parents think they are!!

 

[nw6675]

I lived in Japan on a military base in the first and second grades in the early 80s. We would ride our bikes and go off base to the yen store to buy candy. There was never a safety concern and we had a lot of independence. No, I would never dream of my 10 year old doing that, particularly in the US, but at that time it was the norm.

 

[dez1978]

Mine walked to the elementary school on their own, but it’s a 2 min walk. Our backyard faces the school yard. My son bikes to the middle school and he’ll bike or walk to high school. We live in a suburb so there really isn’t much that’s walking distance. Closest stores are 2+ miles away.

2 miles is totally walking distance lol. We lived out in the middle of nowhere growing up and I had a friend that lived about 3.5 miles away. I had to go down our poorly paved road, like a country side road that has no lines on it, sides or middle, about a mile and a half. Then the "main" road which was a road with lines, but no shoulders, just white line, then ditch lol. I used to walk or ride my bike there all the time. But this is back in the late 80's-early 90s when the only rule was be home by dark.

 

[Jangles]

In the U.K. , certainly until the 70s, almost every village or suburb had a corner shop. Children were routinely sent to the corner shop for treats or things parents had forgotten to buy and that’s how they familiarised themselves with money.
This series is interesting.

 

[mjkacmom]

In the U.K. , certainly until the 70s, almost every village or suburb had a corner shop. Children were routinely sent to the corner shop for treats or things parents had forgotten to buy and that’s how they familiarised themselves with money.
This series is interesting.

We had many here as well, corner stores or sweet shops, cigarettes, candy, soda, newspapers, simple breakfasts like buttered rolls or egg sandwiches. Mine was Phil’s, up the street, bought my parents cigarettes and whatever else they needed, and get myself a yoo-hoo and some bazooka gum. Our town still has a couple of sweet shops but many are now delis or pizzarias.

 

[ronandannette]

Mine walked to the elementary school on their own, but it’s a 2 min walk. Our backyard faces the school yard. My son bikes to the middle school and he’ll bike or walk to high school. We live in a suburb so there really isn’t much that’s walking distance. Closest stores are 2+ miles away.

I'm not sure that would daunt those spunky little Japanese kids. In one episode, 2 toddlers working together climbed a 220-step staircase to do their errands and came back down without missing a beat.