The punishment this parent chose is unthinkable. They have no idea how to raise a child. They did not try to explain what was right and wrong. A child is not a dog or a cat. You have to treat the chil

Mitsuko Tateishi, an educator, criticizing the father

Unless you are a Parent you should not criticize.

I wouldn't even treat a dog or cat like that... unbelievable !

A child is not a dog or a cat

Tateishi, you care an IDIOT & unfit to be an educator CLEARLY!! Are you saying people should toss their pets out in the sticks?? Oh wait THAT ALREADY happens all too often, no bloody wonder the parents came up with such a STUPID idea to discipline their son............WT....

Anyone see a pattern here, no wonder too many children here end up in horrible situations here, thinking of many is seriously MESSED UP!!

GWJUN. 04, 2016 - 11:10AM JST

Anyone see a pattern here, no wonder too many children here end up in horrible situations here, thinking of many is seriously MESSED UP!!

Are you seriously suggesting that the treatment of children here in Japan is in any way worse than what occurs in Western society? For whatever's sake... check you're own nation. It's probably far, far worse.

don in J,

perhaps you haven't read all the news items about the horrific treatment of children in the name of "discipline", I don't expect perfection but there is a lot of messed up "parenting" going on in Japan.

Well, the story is all over the world now and fairly or unfairly the issue of Japanese parenting and discipline is getting an airing. It will not be long before this is regarded as criticism of Japan itself and the defences will be raised. We can likely expect defensive justifications based on a mixture of cod psychology, Japan's culture and maybe even some carefully selected history and myth. But I would wish there were a real soul-searching debate about all aspects of childrearing and whether they encourage kids to really reach their full potential. As it is, kids are simply fodder for a machine.

Tbh I think its mostly gaijin living in japan who are condemning the whole J society for this incident (unsurprisingly). Am in oz and here news focused on the rescue aspect of things and also the fact that the 'punishment' just went horribly wrong when the kid decided to walk away. I didnt see the 'oh look how bad those J parents were/are'.

All nations have 'silly' parenting habits and negligent parents. Not rare to hear stories here about mums and dads leaving their 5yo in the car to go shopping/to the pub or play the pokies. Not as 'exotic' as this J story but can also be prety lethal in a 40deg heat.

Sure the parents were wrong but had they left for 2min instead of 5min, or always kept an eye on the kid, there wouldn't have been any drama nor news. Perhaps this is the wake up call parents all around the world needed: yes parents do occasionally make the wrong call.

Yep I think that's while this situation turned out nearly as bad as it could have, it's a situation that many parents can identify with. Hopefully we all remember what's really important afterwards. Easy to criticize from a sofa

perhaps you haven't read all the news items about the horrific treatment of children in the name of "discipline"

That must explain all the teenage pregnancy, youth gangs and widespread drug use among teens. Oh, wait...that's America....

You have to treat the child like a human individual

Wrong. Treat a child as a child.