Lost 7yo Yamato Tanooka Found After Media Shitstorm

What Actually Happened?

The first report of Yamato’s disappearance painted a picture of an idyllic family getaway. Yamato’s parents claimed that they boy had disappeared while they were picking wild vegetables. However, when he didn’t show up and a search and rescue operation was launched, they admitted that they had made him get out of the car onto the side of the road as a disciplinary measure. According to Mr Tanooka, Yamato’s father, the boy had been throwing stones at cars and people during their visit to the park. Mr Tanooka ordered Yamato out of the car, and then drove away. When they came back just a few minutes later, he was already gone.

His parents were unsurprisingly distraught at this, and while the search was ongoing Mr Tanooka spoke candidly to the media, saying that “We have done an unforgivable thing to our child and we have caused a lot of trouble for everyone. I just hope he is safe.”

Six days later this story does have a happy ending. The boy walked five kilometres through the woods and arrived safely at the military building where he was able to shelter himself for six days. He suffered no long-term physical injury, and is hopefully as apologetic as his parents are.

So Why All The Hate?

It seems like the last few weeks have been a melting pot of judgemental ideas about what it means to be a ‘good parent’. While half the internet trolls were tearing down two parents in Cincinnati whose child fell into a gorilla enclosure, resulting in the death of a gorilla, the other half were ripping into the Tanooka family for their neglectful approach to discipline. It seems we just can’t get this parenting thing right! Surely these singular incidents make clear that these two children should be immediately removed from their useless and neglectful families.

Really?

I have to say I don’t agree.

What child hasn’t said on a visit to the zoo that they want to climb in to the enclosures to be with the animals. As a kid I had a fascination with lions, and given half an opportunity I probably would have climbed a fence to be closer to them. Would that have meant my parents were neglectful? Nope, it would have meant they were busy, and it would have meant that children are fast and slippery suckers, always ready to test the limits.

More than that, you can’t honestly tell me that you’ve never threatened to leave your child behind at a shopping centre or playground? You’ve never made a show of abandonment just to teach those little suckers a lesson? My whole childhood was a series of these moments, usually following me seriously pushing the boundaries of my parents’ patience.

Let’s be honest here. Yamato Tanooka is a seven-year-old, but he should still understand responsibility. Throwing rocks at cars and people is not on, and his parents ‘pretending’ to leave him behind, only to return a few minutes later, is hardly neglectful behaviour, particularly if it is a standalone incident that just happens to have attracted public attention. The biggest problem was their kid is obviously very headstrong, and he figured that he’d just make a go of it himself and walked off into the forest.

Clearly unsupervised disciplinary action is not for him, and now his parents know that. But crucifying them as terrible parents, when there are so many other people doing so much worse, is a waste of time and energy. Yes, Yamato is a kid, but that doesn’t mean he’s automatically the victim. The entire family is, torn apart by a judgemental group of distant critics who think they know better.

Well you don’t. This story did have a happy ending. The little boy is safe, and back with his parents, which is exactly where he should be.