Two kids confined in rubbish chute in Osaka

nitro: I agree. Even at the age of 8, I think I would've recognized what a nutter this guy was and just run. Besides they said he had a "reddish face". I would've taken that for "drunk" and figured out pretty quickly that he wouldn't have been able to catch my fast, 8-year old, non-drunk ass. Guess the moms and dads better sit down with the boys and have a talk on not listening when crazy "reddish faced" men tell you to do something stupid.

 

Here's another case of children being left alone to play with apparently no parents nearby. This guy could have killed one or both of those kids. When will parents in Japan learn that their children are not pets or toys that can be left unsupervised?

 

so, are you saying you never road a bike to a friends house where you were out of sight from your parents?
8-9 isn't that young and they were at their appartment complex, so not that far from home..

Kids just need to be taught a little more awareness is what it is, and that you DON'T do as a stranger asks...

 

Bake my day: Chill, dude! The story doesn't give any details about how far the boys were from home so they may well have been playing in their own apartment complex. Besides the boys were 8 and 9, surely old enough to be allowed to play together on a Sunday morning without mom hovering around all the time. I know I did when I was that age and no one would've accused my mom of thinking "children are not pets or toys that can be left unsupervised?"

 

Completely agree with Nitro on this one.

If this fruitcake cam up to me when I was in 8 or 9, I would have given him a mouthful of vile abuse. If that didnt work I would run away to a safe distance and start throwing stones or other objects at his head!

 

That's because your Scottish. You probably do that daily !!

 

When I was a kid, I also played outside and rode my bike unsupervised. It was safer then. In this day and age, you can't leave children unsupervised. This guy could have killed or seriously injured those children. He had the time to do it. Most young children are afraid of angry adults and can be easily cowered. It's not easy to flee in such a situation.

I stand by what I said earlier about lax parental supervision. In the last week, I have seen young children playing in a game arcade, riding bikes in an isolated area, wandering around a shopping center, playing with a ball on a train platform. In all cases, there was no parent nearby (as far as I could tell). In all cases, they would have been easy prey to a predator.

Anyway, that's just my two yen's worth. I feel obliged to keep a very close eye on my young children unless they are in the house or back yard.

 

haha, yes Haggisman, can remember doing just that from an elevated position at a man that gave us some stick from riding of bikes through his lawn... a couple of projectiles from some arsey kids is always good for ones personal growth.

 

I hear what you're saying, as I've a 5 year old here as well, and he's never from eyesight, but we can't wrap them in a plastic bubble forever, and around 8-9 they're going to need to do things on their own for the personal growth and build confidence that they can look after themselves.. it's up to us as parents to educate them about the dangers of certain strangers, situations etc that they might face, so that that they can make the right judgment call.

 

Bake my day: It's really questionable as to whether or not it "was safer then". We have more media saturation so we hear about more crimes against children. We have better forensic and detective skills so we're better able to identify crimes from accidents. As well, children are more valuable now. I mean that in the sense that most industrialized countries have laws against child labor, laws protecting children and laws treating children differently than adults. Most historians will tell you that for most of, most of us posting here anyway, we live in much safer times than say 100 years ago when the majority of murders would have gone unreported unless they were someone famous or "important" and unsolved. While I respect your desire to protect your children, the media can do crazy things to a person's sense of well being. Watch your kids within reason but don't over-protect them or they'll end up little, mollycoddled, weaklings who've never been allowed to make a mistake or get in a situation where they had to think on their toes.

 

 

And, who taught you such vile abusive language at such an early age?

 

Kudos for an excellent post toolonggone.

Indeed, we cannot let a relatively few bad incedents make us paranoid to the point that we drive our kids nuts with supervision and they never learn to care for themselves or grow in other ways children can only grow out from under the wing.

 

And japan teaches the international community that it loves its children. Hmmmm. I guess the ones who espouse such virtuous drivel don't live in japan.

 

Turns out these kids lied to try and get out of trouble after they accidentally locked themselves in. Oops.