Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Japan has a much lower crime rate than the U.S. The murder rate is extremely low there. Also, pedophiles are everywhere in this area. Just pull up the sex offender map and they are everywhere.

Most people on the sex offender list are not pedophiles who are danger to your children. You can be an 18 yr old having sex with your 17 yr old girl friend and end up on the sex offender list. I have absolutely no faith that it tells me anything useful.

The sex offender list doesn't even limit itself to pedophiles. Some people on that list are convicted of assaulting another adult. Not that that makes them less dangerous, but the sex offender registry isn't a map of pedophiles.

Way to go, kids. All that shopping and moseying around and they couldn't even bring back the right damn vegetable.

As a Japanese, let me tell you that generalizations are always wrong. Yes, there are toddlers who run errands in Asia - it's prevalent in China too. Yes, the main danger is being hit by a car (there are often no sidewalks and the residential streets can be narrow). Many families do not do this errand thing, or plan it so that the toddler has a safe route to the nearest store. It's orchestrated, in other words, and the goal is development of self-esteem and self-reliance.

In Japan, some schools pair up Kindergartners by geographic location and expect them to walk to school and back as a pair. Again, this is a tradition and not always implemented for safety reasons.

What I do notice in my travels is that European and Asian families don't carry their house contents with them when they go on outings! Fewer sightings of huge diaper bags, double strollers, minivans spilling out their overflow onto the sidewalk, etc. Even toddlers carry their own little bags with small water bottles. The parent has a normal bag, with a diaper and little packet of wipes. No need for food or toys if the outing lasts less than a few hours. In the US their peers in similar conditions are often fed and entertained constantly to keep them well-behaved and as a result develop patience and coping skills somewhat later in life.

Anonymous wrote:Japan has a much lower crime rate than the U.S. The murder rate is extremely low there. Also, pedophiles are everywhere in this area. Just pull up the sex offender map and they are everywhere.

Most people on the sex offender list are not pedophiles who are danger to your children. You can be an 18 yr old having sex with your 17 yr old girl friend and end up on the sex offender list. I have absolutely no faith that it tells me anything useful.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's safe in the US, we are just afraid to let them do it.

Yup.
By far the most dangerous thing about sending your Kindergarten on a (close-by, not crossing interstate highway) errand is the danger of the neighbors calling CPS.

Yep. A class series of books on child development is the "Your ___ Year Old" series, published in the late 70s. In the 5 or 6 year old book, they lay out the basic "school readiness" indicators. One of those is that the child be able to run a short errand. Their overall description of a typical 5 yr old also notes that a 5 yr old is ready to cross the street by himself and run a short errand in the neighborhood. Our children are not suddenly less capable than they used to be. We (our whole society, not just parents) are just much more paranoid.

Anonymous wrote:Japan has a much lower crime rate than the U.S. The murder rate is extremely low there. Also, pedophiles are everywhere in this area. Just pull up the sex offender map and they are everywhere.

Every country has pedophiles. I'm sure Japan does as well.

Japan has a much lower crime rate than the U.S. The murder rate is extremely low there. Also, pedophiles are everywhere in this area. Just pull up the sex offender map and they are everywhere.

DC is full of crime

There's an early scene in Black Boy, where the mother sends her son off to buy bread and milk. It's a real rites of passage / coming of age moment that's always stuck with me.

There's a corner store in our neighborhood. I've already started imagining when I'll send DS out for a loaf of bread. He's six and there's a busy street to cross, so I don't see this happening soon. I think he'll feel like magic! It's a huge moment, one that will mean a lot to him.

We're not too far from where the children go to school and have already discussed how the two of them will one day walk by themselves. We've practiced, with me walking behind them as they hold hands and make their way like little champions.

This is the fun stuff of parenthood.

Fear of CPS is a thing now.

CPS needs new reporting rules to weed out fanatic watchdog citizens.

Anonymous wrote:Oh, I felt bad for the crying boy. He wasn't ready, why push it?

Did you watch the whole video, or only the first 20 seconds?

Anonymous wrote:I walked to kindergarten in 1975 with my 7 year old brother. Since kindergarten got out earlier than 2nd grade I walked home 5 blocks by myself. This was in a safe suburb of LosAngeles. I am afraid to send my six year old off to ride his bike around the block because of some crazy neighbor calling CPS.

Exactly me. I'm from LA, was in K in 1975. And yes, I walked to school by myself starting in 2nd grade, crossing a busy road with traffic signals.

I let my kids (7 and 10) run around outside our neighborhood, often times out of my sight. Sometimes I think someone will call CPS on me even though we live in a very safe neighborhood. Some people on this forum alone have stated they'd call CPS for the slightest of perceived neglect. What crap.

The thing that surprised me the most in the video was that there are no sidewalks. I would be afraid of my kids getting run over.

I walked to kindergarten in 1975 with my 7 year old brother. Since kindergarten got out earlier than 2nd grade I walked home 5 blocks by myself. This was in a safe suburb of LosAngeles. I am afraid to send my six year old off to ride his bike around the block because of some crazy neighbor calling CPS.

Anonymous wrote:It's safe in the US, we are just afraid to let them do it.

Yup.
By far the most dangerous thing about sending your Kindergarten on a (close-by, not crossing interstate highway) errand is the danger of the neighbors calling CPS.