children≠children

I'm working at the theme park for children. Children can experience more than 70 jobs, such as a fire fighter, a pilot, a fashion model, a baker, a newspaper reporter, a director of TV program, an idol singer and so on. The size of facilities like buildings, cars, and traffic lights is 2/3 of the real ones in our life.



I'm very surprised at this environment when I first entered the theme park. It is not only because children can go through many jobs according to their interests, but also 2 big reasons.



First, at this theme park, children are not "children". They are treated as "adults". All of the staff don't call a child "○○chan" or "○○kun", as we always do, instead they use "○○san" for each child. Also, there is a rule that we should use Keigo when talking to children. By acting like this, children will be able to feel that they are recognized as "adults", the same as us. Of course, parents can't enter the pavilion with their children. What they can do is just watching over their children from outside. I think these ideas are good for children themselves. From early age, they will be independent, and be able to decide by their own.


Second, children can learn many things in addition to having experience of many jobs. For example, when a child try to work as an electrical engineer, he/she has to learn about global warming, because it is related to the job very much in that one of the reasons of global warming is thermal power generation. Another example, if a child wants to drive, he/she must get a driver's license. In order to do that, studying the traffic rules and passing the exam are necessary. Thus, children can have both entertainment and education.


I wish I had an opportunity like this when I was a child. I would like all children to come to the theme park, and learn a lot of things.