SP 4

I understand that an important part of parenting is setting boundaries for children. Until they reach a certain age, kids just don’t have the kind of foresight necessary to fully understand the consequences of all their actions, and letting preteens eat as many cookies as they want or stay up as late as they like probably isn’t the best idea.

That said, another important part of parenting is setting a good example. Fail to do that, and your kids are likely to just tune out everything you’re saying. Actually, that might be the best case scenario, since if you’re flagrantly guilty of not practicing what you preach, your kids might call you out for it, like one Japanese elementary school girl who pointed out her parents’ logical inconsistency in lecturing about keeping her video game playing to a minimum, even as they were glued to their own electronic devices.

Twitter user Re recently shared a snapshot of what appears to be a letter to the editor of a newspaper from a girl named Mizuki Sato.

The 12-year-old resident of Hyogo Prefecture is in her sixth and final year of elementary school and likes playing video games, just as many people her age do.

And many people much older than her, too.

Mizuki’s parents, though, seem less than thrilled with her hobby. “When I play games, my parents always say, ‘Give it a rest; you’ve already been playing for an hour!’” she explains. While they’re definitely not the first ones to say that to their kid, though, Mizuki can’t help but notice her parents aren’t quite as strict with themselves as they are with her.

“But they’re always playing with their smartphones.”

It’s natural for younger kids to respond to every command by asking “Why?” as they test the bounds of their parents’ authority, whether consciously or subconsciously. In Mizuki’s case, though, she seems genuinely confused as to her parents’ reasoning when they chastise her for putting in a gaming session of over 60 minutes.

“They say, ‘It’s bad for your eyes to play games for more than an hour,’ but I think it’s bad for their eyes to use their smartphones for three or four. Having bad eyesight is just as big of a problem for adults as it is for kids.”

Mizuki goes on to say that her eyesight is fine, so is it possible her parents’ real concern is something else? Sixth graders don’t always display the best time management skills, and maybe they’re bothered by their daughter shirking her scholastic or household responsibilities to play games.

Except, once again, Mizuki insists that’s not what’s happening. “I only play games after taking care of everything I have to do first,” she explains. She even accepts that asking for the same freedom her parents enjoy with their four-hour-long smart phone marathons is more than her parents would be agreeable to. Instead, she concludes her letter by proposing a modest compromise, saying, “I think I should be allowed to play games for an hour and a half or two hours.”

Online commenters had the following to say:

“But maybe her parents are using their smartphones to take care of work emails.”
“I thought they’d already disproved that playing games made your eyes bad?”
“This elementary school kid is thinking more clearly than adult Twitter addicts.”

We’re not sure how the debate between Mizuki and her parents turned out, and it’s likely Mom and Dad wished their daughter was putting her debate skills towards a loftier cause than “I want to play more video games.” Still, the kid sounds remarkably responsible, intelligent, and articulate for her age. As long as she can hang on to those three traits, we’re not sure it’s worth worrying about how many Pokémon she’s catching.

▼ We bet she’s even smart enough to catch the grammatical errors.

SP 3

Source: Toychan
Top image: Wikipedia/Evan-Amos, Know Your Mobile (Edited by RocketNews24)
Insert image: Wikia