Defying death just to get to school
LITTLE six-year-old Michi takes a bus and a train and walks for miles on his hour-long commute across the busy metropolis of Tokyo – completely alone.
As the pint- sized primary school kid bustles alongside thousands of strangers, it’s quite a sight to behold.
His mum says: “In Japan we have a saying, ‘Let your beloved child go on a journey’.”
Meanwhile in China, there are kids who scale a 2,500ft cliff to get to class, while in Nepal, the school run involves dangling over a river on a cable.
Yet here in Britain, most young children are dropped off by y parents directly at the e school gate, after being ng firmly secured in a car seat.
And 99% of parents would not let a child aged seven or under use public ic transport on their ir own. Are we all helicopter parents or just more sensible than everyone else?
This fascinating series, fronted by TV doctors Chris and Xand van Tullek Tulleken, explores life for childre children across Britain and in other parts of the world.
It b begins with a challenging len experiment. W With British kids n now spending less t time outdoors than prison inmates, the doctors decide to test their independence by sending them on a bus to the London Eye alone.
Of course, this is still Britain, so there are undercover chaperones and cameras everywhere, but still...
Given a map and instructions, the kids aged four to seven are left to their own devices.
But will they make it or get lost? And how will the parents cope?
This might make for some rather tense viewing...