Honestly, I don’t do chores nor do my parents make me. My parents don’t give my brother and I certain tasks to do around the house each day. They don’t feel the need for us to do chores and I’ve never asked why. I am still responsible and clean up my room, my dishes and other messes that I make. My parents taught me from an early age to clean up after myself and I started cleaning up my messes myself when I was about 6. I think it’s the fact that I’m responsible and know how to do simple chores already is the reason why they don’t make me do chores. I’m very grateful for this because I’m often tired when I come home after my activities and have homework still left to finish. Having a list of chores to compete would make me busier and I would have little time to enjoy myself.
I have gone to some places by myself, but with my parents dropping me off and usually being accompanied by a friend. When I was in grade 3-4, I would sometimes walk home from school with my friend because we live close to each other, and the walk wasn’t far. The very first time I walked home by myself was just a few months ago when I wanted to get bubble tea with my friend. I didn’t want to keep my mom waiting so I just told her that I will walk home. The main reason why I don’t walk home regularly is because I’m usually in a rush to go to my extracurricular activities. When my schedule clears up in the spring, I would like to walk home more often because I find it relaxing and good exercise.
I have never used public transit by myself because I don’t really use it at all. When I was younger, I used public transit with my grandma and my mom on some occasions. My grandma doesn’t know how to drive so she would use public transit to take me places, while my grandpa who can drive stayed at home to watch over their dog and sometimes my brother. The times when I took public transit with my mom was when we wanted to go somewhere downtown, like Science World or Rogers Arena. To avoid paying for parking, she would drive to my grandparent’s house and leave the car (they live near downtown), then we would walk to the SkyTrain station which was only 1 block away and go downtown. I don’t think my parents would be comfortable with young me using public transit by myself. My parents were born and raised in Canada so they are used to this society and ideals. My grandparents who were born and raised in Japan would also be worried and paranoid about me in public alone. Even when I wanted to use the washroom in malls or other public spaces, my grandma will always go with me even though I have went in many times by myself when with my mom. I wasn’t even that young, probably about 7 years old. In the present day, I don’t use public transit because my parents are always available to drive me places. I also do a lot of extracurricular activities that take up quite a bit of time, so I don’t really have opportunities to go out myself or with friends all the time. I do have my own compass card and would I like to use it sometime in the near future.
I think that children around the world should grow up with the ideals of Japanese independence but with lower intensity. I agree with the idea of young children cleaning up after themselves and having responsibilities at home. It teaches them to be more mature and to not rely on your parents for everything. Teaching independence can be hard for older kids because they are so used to everyone else doing things for them, so that’s why I think parents should step back a bit and let their child do tasks on their own. Some kids may even like having independence because it gives them freedom and a voice. When I was a toddler, I wanted to do a lot of things myself, like picking out my own clothes and opening/shutting drawers. My mom let me do those things and I think her stepping back helped me build more independence. But what I disagree with is having young children leaving the house by themselves.
Japan is a very safe country and kid related crimes rarely happen. But in the rest of the world, many countries are not safe for children to be going out by themselves. This is why I think children should be accompanied by an adult until a certain age (depending on the safety of the place) and if they know their way around. The reason why this works for Japan is because the streets are safe for kids. The society in Japan has a belief that adults should watch over children and make sure that they are safe when travelling alone. This doesn’t mean follow the kid home, but being aware that there is a child and looking out for their well being. Many busy intersections have crossing guards to help children safely cross from their way to and from school. Other countries also have crossing guards, but it can still be unsafe due to the driver’s recklessness. There have been numerous incidences of crossing guards being hit or in danger because of unaware drivers.
In Japan, drivers are taught to yield to pedestrians, speed limits are lower and have more intersections in neighbourhoods to make cars go slower. Overall, as a society we should be more accommodating to the safety of children and people in general. This is important because letting children have independence and more responsibilities early on will help them survive in the world when they live on their own.
https://unchartedsupplyco.com/en-ca/blogs/the-four-pillars/children-in-the-community