#88 Children learn to be independent earlier

Independence seems to start at a very young age in Israel and it is not unusual to see kids that are six or seven walking their younger siblings to gan. At one point, the government launched a campaign to tell parents that kids should be at least 9-years old before crossing a street by themselves.

The independence continues and Israeli kids take trips with their youth groups from a very young age. Teenagers are even more independent…it is a very different approach than life in the USA, where picture of missing kids adorn Walmart store walls and milk cartons. There are definitely safety issues in Israel, but they are very different from the USA.