Saturday, November 15, 2008

Oh My God !



It is unbelievable, but true. According to England's Telegraph newspaper, a nine-year-old Japanese schoolboy, who learnt driving from playing various video games, used his skills to steal the family car. The Japanese boy had keen interest in visiting his grandmother. He found the car, which was parked with the keys in the ignition, in front of his home. However, soon after the boy set off on the 7.5 mile journey he became lost. He pulled into a convenience store car park in a bid to ask staff for directions after 1.8 miles. After seeing the car without a driver in the city of Ogaki, people informed police immediately. "I learned from playing video games at arcades and watching my father drive. I'm sorry. I just wanted to go to my grandmother's house," the boy told police. Does he need an award or a lesson ?

14 comments:

Plamena Markova-Koleva said...

what a great kid! amazing! when i was little i did this in one dream... cool feeling :)

Kadri Luik said...

It's distrubing, really, that this happens a couple of times a year to some extent. I know it's not easy to keep up with a bunch or ceative and energetic kids but I still wonder where the parents are. The last time it happened here it was a 5 year old who put his little sister in the car and drove down the street. Two kids, 5 years and younger, stole a car and no one saw them and stopped them...

That said, I learned how to drive a real car when I was 7. It was one of those things my family felt could be good for me to know, since I spent much time out in the woods with my elderly and sickly grandfather and might need to get him back to civilization for some reason. I always thought it was scary and I never even thought of driving on the streets and in traffic. To this day I've never bothered to get a drivers license.

Anupama K. Mazumder said...

Isnt it time we reflected on the present social structure where nuclear families are predominant? Children need their grand parents and other relatives around them for all round growth...

Kadri Luik said...

With due respect, kids need caring and loving and attentive adults in their lives, and there is no guarantee that grandparents and other relatives is the correct option. It’s not about the shape of the family and who’s in it or not, it’s about adults caring about the kids and most of all parents taking responsibility for the kids they put to this world.

I used to believe in the rather romantic idea of large, supportive and traditional family units where all relatives supported and helped. That’s how I grew up so that was all I knew. Then I grew up and faced reality. Sure it’s great when all works well, no doubt about that, but it’s also really bad when it’s not functioning.

No matter how you form your family it all boils down to how much time you are willing to put on the kids and what you do with that time. I’ve see single mothers excel where large and traditional family units have failed.

Anupama K. Mazumder said...

Agreed, Kadri!!!

But read between the lines Deepak has written... identify with the child who misses his grandmother who is far away.

Attention is the key, yes. And maybe because his parents haven't been able to give the child quality time, the child has spent his time playing video games. My God, he actually learnt how to drive!!!

And the child didnt want to go anywhere else... he could have gone to an amusement park for example... just wanted to be with his granny, with whom he could identify.

Kadri Luik said...

A nine year old can be very determined when they get a fix idea and if it hadn’t been the grandmother then it would have been something else, even an amusement park. If you truly know the nature of a nine year old boy then you know that he could have done the same thing to go visit the king/president if that had been on his mind at that moment. It’s not about family, it’s about him wanting something and not being willing to wait for it to happen.

TV, video games, computer games and the internet is the new baby sitters in this world and they really suck at their job. We are losing a whole generation to the machines because parents can’t be bothered to take care of the kids they have birthed.

Wahokia said...

When I was about four, I climbed into the family car, released the emergency brake, somehow got it out of gear and steered it through our backyard, missing about nine trees in the forest behind our house before it rolled to a stop.

I don't remember the punishment, but I never did it again. It became a family story told with much mirth, much to my chagrin.

This young lad will hear about this again and again as he grows up!

Suman Doogar said...

wow genius kid

Gattina said...

I think this little boy is a genius, he should train for Formular 1

get zapped said...

What a trip! I think it put himself in danger and others as well, thus hopefully, he was informed of the seriousness, and yet comforted and taken to see he grandmother, as I know he must have been scared when he became lost.

Martin MY said...

I think its a good idea letting minor drive, mnay of them are better driver than adults with driving licenses!!! (How some pass is another story!)

Amrita said...

this might be cited as example of positive side and negative side of playing too much video game...the kid learnt to drive..but he forgot that he is a minor...

R. Ramesh said...

thanks for yr ever-motivating comments...pl keep up the spirit..

angela said...

I should think he needs to grow a bit so he can see over the steering wheel. It doesn't sound as if he was unsafe..