Hacker Cinema
Old Enough!
はじめてのおつかい
1991 · TV series · 20 min episodes · 32 seasons
Created by Atsushi Ouchi
Children go on errands all by themselves for the very first time as a camera crew follows along in this beloved, long-running reality show from Japan.
8 positive1 neutralfrom 9 commenters
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9 comments on Hacker News
Everyone here should watch the Japanese TV series, Old Enough!. 2-4 year olds are sent out on their own to run errands, etc. Yes, really, 2-4 years old. And they succeed and are fine.
https://www.ntv.co.jp/english/pc/2011/02/old-enough.html
There's a great Japanese (reality?) TV show that kinda borders this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Enough!
I think it's on Netflix in most countries.
In it kids, usually 3-6 years old, are sent alone on errands like buying groceries or picking up stuff. They're followed by camera crew with hidden cameras who only interfere if the kids are _actually_ in danger (never happened in the episodes I saw).
The parents are a bit worried usually, but not scared to death like an American parent would be if they had to send a 5yo to the closest store - which most likely is not accessible without a car anyway...
In a similar vein, there is a Japanese TV show called "Old Enough!" [0] (1991-present) that focuses on kids as young as 3 year olds heading out of home by themselves and performing errands -- it really is quite amazing to watch how independent some of the kids are!
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Enough%21
>I can only guess you (and most of the other naysayers in this thread) don't have young children.
or they don't hail from a culture where helicopter parenting has become the norm. Here in Germany tracking your kids like this would be widely seen as completely bizarre. There's a great Japanese TV show, called Old Enough, (that has been running for 30 years, long before smartphones existed), where kids as young as 2 and 4 run off and navigate public transport and do daily errands.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UA1kd72sbg
> dad was intended to be a commentary on Japanese salaryman culture, [...] lesson about all the things you might miss if you spend all your time working.
Totally. Check out a few episodes of the "Old Enough" show on Netflix and you'll see the same; dad/mom is stuck running the restaurant while the kid goes on the epic errand. Adults have responsibilities and it was touching that the game respected that instead of vilifying him as an "absentee" parent. Childhood is your journey; your parents are just there to provide air support.
Japan is highly homogenous - their immigration policy would be decried by many liberals in the West as "racist". It is a massive factor in how their society is run, and why they are so high-trust that they don't need strong enforcement mechanisms (in some cases. Don't be a Western car exec there for example).
There is a show on Netflix called "Old Enough!". It's worth watching to see how some of the high-trust works in practice, and also to perhaps think through if we could be comfortable with the same in our own neighbourhoods and countries. My guess for most people in the Anglo West, the answer would be "No".
Japan is much more child friendly in terms of that. For example, young children are regularly sent to do errands on their own (see the Old Enough tv show for an exaggerated version of that). So people may believe it to be the case, but I'm not convinced our zoning style achieves that goal.
Netflix: Old Enough
For anyone who hasn’t watched Old Enough, go watch it. It’s a documentary on how in Japanese culture it common to give extremely young kids large responsibilities.
A 2-year old literally walks over a mile alone across busy roads to go grocery shopping for his family.
https://www.netflix.com/title/81506279
Just as note, but the Japanese show mentioned in the article ("Old Enough") is absolutely delightful. Episodes are usually between 10-20 minutes (the longest being the one with the fish / apple disaster). AFAIK there are currently 20 subtitled episodes available on netflix.