9 Parenting Practices From Around The World That May Have You Questioning Your Own

One of the benefits of global travel is learning about customs that make our cultures different. Some of these particularities can be a challenge for Americans. Others, however, may have you wondering, “Why don’t we do things like that here?”

The following parenting practices are considered totally normal in these countries, often to the shock of American visitors. But if you’re willing to shift your perspective slightly, they also have benefits for kids and parents that might cause us to reexamine our assumptions about what “good parenting” looks like.

1. Kids in Japan are running errands and walking to school by themselves.

You’ve likely heard of the television program “Old Enough” (“Hajimete no Otsukai,” or “My First Errand,” in Japanese.) While the show has been a sensation in Japan for decades, only this year did it amass a U.S. following after its Netflix premiere. It’s a reality program that follows young children — ages 2-5 — as they undertake tasks such as going to the store.

As in all reality television, there is a great amount of orchestration behind the scenes to keep the children both safe and in sight of the cameras. But the show highlights a real cultural difference between Japan and the U.S. In Japan, it’s not unusual to see children — perhaps not quite as young as those featured on the show, but still elementary-school-aged — taking public transportation or walking to school on their own or with other young children, demonstrating a degree of independence virtually unheard of for American children of the same age.

Perhaps this has something to do with Japan’s low crime rate: The incidence of gun homicide there is 350 times less than in the U.S.

In safe, enclosed spaces like schools, Japanese children