Parenting in Japan

Recently NPR had a program about parenting around the world and this is what it had to say about Japan:

"Japanese parents let their kids go out by themselves

Parents in Japan allow their kids a lot of independence after a certain age. It isn't uncommon for 7-year-olds and even 4-year-olds to ride the subway by themselves.

Christine Gross-Loh, author of Parenting Without Borders, lives in Japan for part of each year, and when she's there she lets her kids run errands without her, taking the subway and wandering around town as they may. But she wouldn't dare do the same back in the United States.

“If I let them out on their own like that in the U.S., I wouldn't just get strange looks,” she told TED. “Somebody would call Child Protective Services.”"

My mom told me a similar incident with CPS actually happened not too long ago when a child rode the subway in NYC. I remember being surprised when I learned that my host brother took the subway to his afterschool programs all alone. Even though in Japan and children ride solo and run errands independent from their parents, I would guess it is almost entirely because Japan’s crime rate is very low and Japan is, generally speaking, a safe, clean, and efficient country. Japanese parents are very much involved in their children’s lives, especially their schooling and extracurriculars, so allowing their kids to ride the subway does not indicate a lack of involvement. Still interesting to compare different styles. Here’s a link to the NPR article.