Lesson of Kid’s Survival

Missing seven-year-old boy was found in a cabin for Ground Self-defense Force in Shikabe Town, Hokkaido, on Friday. The boy wandered around the forest and found the shelter on his own. So, why was he missed? That was why his father left him alone in a forest for discipline. The boy was as wrong as annoying his father and as good as surviving six-day drill without food.

A second-grader of an elementary school in Nanae Town, Yamato Tano-oka, was scolded by his father, Takayuki Tano-oka, when he did not quit throwing stones toward the people in a park last Saturday. Takayuki kept on accusing Yamato, while driving, and let Yamato get off the car in the midst of forest. Although Takayuki picked Yamato up when he cried and followed the car, Yamato was left alone again after he showed no regret about what he had done. When Takayuki got back to the place after running the car for 500 meters, Yamato had disappeared.

Police, fire fighters and self-defense force looked for Yamato in the forest day after day. For some reasons, they searched in the bushes, yelling “Yamatooo.” But, it was unlikely that a kid left alone went out of the road and got into the forest with no special reason. Searching team was dismantled with basic disappointment on Thursday. Yamato actually walked as far as ten kilometers away and arrived at a building for self-defense force to take rest in the night. Fortunately enough, one of the doors was unlocked. It was happy for SDF that Yamato was not a terrorist.

Yamato was smart enough not to go out of the building to consume his energy. Although there was no food in the cabin, he spent his days drinking water coming through appliance devise. He escaped coldness in the night by sleeping between two mattresses. When he was found by self-defense force men, Yamato looked aware, stood firm, had no injury and ate rice ball given by a man.

Yamato left a number of lessons to the adults. Firstly, was leaving a kid in the forest an act of discipline? Takayuki admitted to the press that it was too much. Absolutely. If the father did not want his kid to throw stones to people, he needs to persuade the kid explaining how the action will be harmful to others. Emotional punishment does not produce constructive result.

Yamato’s survival caused broad discussion to the world. “The case has gripped Japan, sparking discussions about acceptable levels of discipline for children,” wrote BBC web news. “A few said the parents had simply mishandled an otherwise acceptable form of punishment. Some said they had been subjected to the same treatment from their own parents after misbehaving as children,” reported New York Times. Here’s old saying in Japan: child is mirror of parents.