Places In The World Where Kids Have Surprising Amounts of Freedom

[HeyHomie]

Where are some places in the world where kids have a surprising* degree of freedom? Either because of libertarian laws, police who look the other way, cultural norms, etc.

*Define "surprising" as you will, but I'm looking for things like:

In [xxxx place], the de facto driving age is "old enough to reach the pedals," or "In [yyyy place], a 13-year-old can walk into a liquor store and buy a bottle of wine without a second glance," etc.

[MPB in Salt Lake]

Originally Posted by HeyHomie

Where are some places in the world where kids have a surprising* degree of freedom? Either because of libertarian laws, police who look the other way, cultural norms, etc.

*Define "surprising" as you will, but I'm looking for things like:

In [xxxx place], the de facto driving age is "old enough to reach the pedals," or "In [yyyy place], a 13-year-old can walk into a liquor store and buy a bottle of wine without a second glance," etc.

I think that at least in theory, a five or six year-old Greek kid can duck into the corner bottle store in Athens and legally buy themselves a bottle of vino, (retsina?) although I am not sure how common of a scenario like that actually plays out, in real-life practice.

(would the store owner refuse the sale, even though it was legal?)

[Wesley Clark]

The children of dictators have a wide range of freedoms. But I don't know if that is what you are looking for.

[shijinn]

Originally Posted by HeyHomie

... In [xxxx place], the de facto driving age is "old enough to reach the pedals," ...

i would think that might be true for any rural places, so long as the owner of the vehicle is willing?

[HeyHomie]

Originally Posted by shijinn

i would think that might be true for any rural places, so long as the owner of the vehicle is willing?

Sure, unless the tyke gets caught.

But what if in, say, Cambodia*, the legal driving age is 16, but 12-year-olds routinely drive cabs and the police don't give a damn.

*Cambodia is just a guess.

[GreasyJack]

A lot of states have "farm permit" driver's licences where kids can drive on public roads while doing work related to farming. In most states that have it, the minimum age is somewhere around 13-15, but some states have no set minimum. For example Washington State: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.20.070

Which is interesting because Washington otherwise has pretty restrictive graduated licenses for teenagers, but apparently so long as they're engaged in "farm business" the old enough to reach the pedals rule applies!

(I knew a few kids with farm licences and they tended to interpret "farm business" pretty loosely. Gotta take the truck into town to get a sack of feed.... and while we're there catch a movie, cruise down main street a few times, hit the hamburger joint...)

[GreasyJack]

Originally Posted by Wesley Clark

The children of dictators have a wide range of freedoms. But I don't know if that is what you are looking for.

Tell that to Kim Jong-nam. You try to sneak one trip to Tokyo Disneyland and suddenly you're on the outs with everyone!

[HeyHomie]

How about Western Europe, where attitudes concerning wine/liquor are pretty lax (compared to in the US, that is)? Can a French 12-year-old be sent to the market by his mom to pick up some potatoes, an onion, and a bottle of vin?

Or Asia and smoking: Can a 10-year-old in Osaka run to the corner store to score some smokes?

[Simple Linctus]

I think almost everywhere outside of the US kids have more freedom.

For instance, over here, it is legal to give children alcohol so long as they are over five. If they are over twelve, they are allowed to drink alcohol in restaurants with you. And we're pretty up tight about alcohol compared to meditarrenean countries.

In Iran, Saudi Arabia, and other Sharia law countries, nine year old girls have the "freedom" to get married (in theory).

Edit: Until about five years ago when the law was changed, the UK's biggest selling newspaper (The Sun) would regularly feature topless sixteen year olds on page 3. Similarly, I believe the legal age for porn (to buy it, not be in it) in most of the continent is 14 or 16.

Edit 2: Also, despite what you may think about UK strict gun laws, you can get a gun licence at any age. You can also get a pilots licence at any age, but I think that is the case worldwide.

Edit 3: You can also join the UK armed forces proper as a sixteen year old, and even before that there's stuff like the ATC and CCF which I was in (great fun).

[Shagnasty]

Louisiana (alternate moto: "We grow'em up young") is a lot less restrictive than most of the rest of the U.S. for cultural and legal reasons. It has slowly tightened the reins over the years but is still less restrictive than other states in lots of ways. I got my driver's license on my 15th birthday although I started driving by myself on public roads at 14 just like all my friends did. It was the last state with an 18 year old drinking age as well. That lasted until the late 1990's but even today, kids can drink in the presence of their parents legally. High school students can bring guns to school during hunting season as long as they leave them in their vehicle. The combination of being a fairly rural state in general but having hedonistic New Orleans as a major city means that their aren't nearly as many restrictions on kids as in say, Massachusetts.

[skdo23]

Originally Posted by Simple Linctus

In Iran, Saudi Arabia, and other Sharia law countries, nine year old girls have the "freedom" to get married (in theory).

Just a WAG, but I'm guessing that the nine year old girls in question don't view their situation as an exercise of freedom.

[Dogzilla]

Pointless anecdote related to cultural differences with regard to alcohol:

I was recently working on a project for an office of my company that is located in the UK. The product was a brochure aimed a middle-school aged kids. My job was to "translate" slangy British terms into the equivalent slangy American term and to bring up any cultural issues that wouldn't quite fly on this side of the pond. One page suggested bring a gift for your teacher at the end of the school year. On that page, a list of the top five most common gifts to teachers was helpfully provided. Number three on the list was wine. I had to LOL and noted "American parents would lose their minds over the idea of sending a bottle of wine with their 13-year-olds to school. It. would. not. happen." I figured teachers would probably get in trouble for even having a sealed, corked full bottle of unopened wine within 100 feet of their school. They took that page out and I may have to write some new copy suggesting something else for American kids.

[Musicat]

Originally Posted by Simple Linctus

Edit 2: Also, despite what you may think about UK strict gun laws, you can get a gun licence at any age. You can also get a pilots licence at any age, but I think that is the case worldwide.

The minimum age to solo in the US is 16. In 1996, Jessica Dubroff, 7, piloted (sort of) a private plane and crashed it, killing all on board. Although she didn't have a license, she was permitted to fly the plane with an instructor aboard, but after the crash, the rules were changed to prohibit that, even though the instructor was declared to be the cause by the NTSB.

[Szlater]

Originally Posted by Simple Linctus

Edit 3: You can also join the UK armed forces proper as a sixteen year old, and even before that there's stuff like the ATC and CCF which I was in (great fun).

Noncombat and non-commissioned roles only though. And then only with parental permission.

[skdo23]

Originally Posted by skdo23

Originally Posted by Simple Linctus View Post
In Iran, Saudi Arabia, and other Sharia law countries, nine year old girls have the "freedom" to get married (in theory).

Just a WAG, but I'm guessing that the nine year old girls in question don't view their situation as an exercise of freedom.

@Simple Linctus, Sorry, I didn't notice your scare quotes when making my first post. Now that I do, I assume it's because you share my cynicism. This is a good example in the sense that it illustrates how less restriction does not automatically equal more freedom - i.e., the lack of restrictions on a young girl marrying actually translates into a loss of a freedom for these girls to grow up and chose their own destiny when the become of age.

[Autolycus]

Originally Posted by HeyHomie

Or Asia and smoking: Can a 10-year-old in Osaka run to the corner store to score some smokes?

Dunno about the rest of Asia, but in Japan this doesn't happen. The legal age is 20, and while minors close to that age might be able to get away with a bit younger in certain areas, the populace would be outraged if a 10 year old got away with this.

[ecoaster]

Street kids who live in slums often have more "freedom" (if we can really call it that) because they don't have much supervision and are trying to survive almost completely on their own.

If you spend any time in West Point (Monrovia Liberia) Alemao (Rio, Brazil) or in many Indian cities you are going to see kids doing a lot of adult-like things; buying, selling, cooking, cleaning, pan-handling, buying and using drugs, etc. I don't really think this is what the OP was getting at, but clearly kids at the very bottom rung who live in third world conditions are doing very adult-like tasks.