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A Japanese friend responded to the video in the last post:
09:27 < mika> zdamien: oh that's otsukai
09:27 < mika> it's common
09:27 < mika> the first otsukai is a big deal
And I later found this blog post on hajimete no otsukai: https://tuliplane.wordpress.com/2013/03/26/courage-of-children/
In the first comment, " On visits to my hometown in the U.S., just sending them over a couple of aisles at the grocery store to get something would bring the wrath of my mother (grandma) down on me"
and
"One evening hubby and I were out for an anniversary dinner. The girls were home (Japanese grandparents lived downstairs so we weren’t negligent!) and I think the older three were in 6th grade at the time. Imagine our surprise when we came home to a little platter of cheese, crackers and two ice-cold beers as our little anniversary gift! When asked where they got the beer they replied, “we went to buy it next door at the convenience store, of course!”"
Then a followup post inspired by this article on Swiss pre-schoolers with saws
"Saws. The kind you buy at the hardware store to cut wood. That's what the play-group teacher dumped on the ground for 3- and 4-year-old kids to play with. Knowing that doing this, in the U.S., would result in the teacher being, at minimum, fired and most likely charged with child endangerment, I had visions of emergency room trips and severed limbs dancing through my mind.
But this happened not in the U.S. but in Switzerland, where they believe children are capable of handling saws at age 3 and where kindergarten teachers counsel parents to let their 4- and 5-year-olds walk to school alone. "Children have pride when they can walk by themselves," the head of the Münchenstein, Switzerland, Kindergartens said last week at a parents meeting, reminding those in attendance that after the first few weeks of school children should be walking with friends, not mom."
"Every Friday, whether rain, shine, snow, or heat, he goes into the forest for four hours with 10 other children. In addition to playing with saws and files, they roast their own hot dogs over an open fire. If a child drops a hot dog, the teacher picks it up, brushes the dirt off, and hands it back.
The school year ends next week, and so far the only injury has been one two millimeter long cut received from a pocket knife."
Meanwhile, in the land of the free, or at least Tennessee, letting your 8 year old play unsupervised in the park is a Class D felony. http://www.wcyb.com/Mom-Speaks-Out-About-Neglect-Charges/15240294
My childhood is apparently now illegal in the US.
09:27 < mika> zdamien: oh that's otsukai
09:27 < mika> it's common
09:27 < mika> the first otsukai is a big deal
And I later found this blog post on hajimete no otsukai: https://tuliplane.wordpress.com/2013/03/26/courage-of-children/
In the first comment, " On visits to my hometown in the U.S., just sending them over a couple of aisles at the grocery store to get something would bring the wrath of my mother (grandma) down on me"
and
"One evening hubby and I were out for an anniversary dinner. The girls were home (Japanese grandparents lived downstairs so we weren’t negligent!) and I think the older three were in 6th grade at the time. Imagine our surprise when we came home to a little platter of cheese, crackers and two ice-cold beers as our little anniversary gift! When asked where they got the beer they replied, “we went to buy it next door at the convenience store, of course!”"
Then a followup post inspired by this article on Swiss pre-schoolers with saws
"Saws. The kind you buy at the hardware store to cut wood. That's what the play-group teacher dumped on the ground for 3- and 4-year-old kids to play with. Knowing that doing this, in the U.S., would result in the teacher being, at minimum, fired and most likely charged with child endangerment, I had visions of emergency room trips and severed limbs dancing through my mind.
But this happened not in the U.S. but in Switzerland, where they believe children are capable of handling saws at age 3 and where kindergarten teachers counsel parents to let their 4- and 5-year-olds walk to school alone. "Children have pride when they can walk by themselves," the head of the Münchenstein, Switzerland, Kindergartens said last week at a parents meeting, reminding those in attendance that after the first few weeks of school children should be walking with friends, not mom."
"Every Friday, whether rain, shine, snow, or heat, he goes into the forest for four hours with 10 other children. In addition to playing with saws and files, they roast their own hot dogs over an open fire. If a child drops a hot dog, the teacher picks it up, brushes the dirt off, and hands it back.
The school year ends next week, and so far the only injury has been one two millimeter long cut received from a pocket knife."
Meanwhile, in the land of the free, or at least Tennessee, letting your 8 year old play unsupervised in the park is a Class D felony. http://www.wcyb.com/Mom-Speaks-Out-About-Neglect-Charges/15240294
My childhood is apparently now illegal in the US.