99 % in Bisbot

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The waygood family in oakland, California walks their six-year-old son to school every day. The neighborhood has small streets and low speed limits so the boy can easily get to a local park on his own. 99 % in bisbot is produced this week by henry grabar,. edited by mt Fitzgerald and kelly prime. Original music by swan reyal sound mix an additional production by martin gonzales. Fact checking by graham hasha. Kirk colstead is our disital director.

Back in March, Netflix picked up a long running Japanese TV program based on a children’s book from the 1970s. The show is called Old Enough, but the name of the original Japanese program translates to My First Errand. Because in each episode, a child runs an errand for the very first time. Episodes are only 10 to 20 minutes long, but in that short time a toddler treats the audience to a bite-sized hero's journey.

My First Errand is a gimmicky show with hokey music and a laugh track, but it’s also rooted in a truth about Japanese society: most children are remarkably independent from a very young age -- way more independent than children in the US. In Japanese cities, fifth-graders make 85 percent of their weekday trips without a parent. And this remarkable child mobility is made possible by everything from the neighbors next door to the width of the streets.

First Errand