My thoughts on reading Hiro Arikawa's 'Children of Tomorrow'

A story of children's growth set in a children's care facility.
It carefully captures the emotions of children, refusing to define them simply as 'pitiful children'.

For children in care, even the decision of whether to pursue higher education after graduating high school carries significant risk. There was a girl who was forced to drop out after being hospitalized with pneumonia.
The staff member assumed she had fallen into a life of vice, and felt deep regret. After that, the staff began strongly recommending employment after leaving the facility.

These children are forced to prioritize financial independence. Their situation is clearly different and more disadvantageous than that of children in typical households.
I felt relieved to learn later that the girl had joined the Self-Defense Forces and carved out her own path.

Some children are tormented by parents who do not understand the value of higher education, and their situations are often harsh. However, there are also staff members who feel it is wrong to push children into employment without offering the option of further education, leading to conflicts between younger and veteran staff.
The story depicts these conflicts as arising from a sincere desire to do what is best for the children.

Raising children without parents is truly difficult and demanding. Since facility staff are not family, they cannot spoil the children to the fullest extent. There is a reality where children in facilities cannot experience things that are permitted in typical households.
Even the act of lining up shoes in the shoe rack mentioned at the beginning—something parents would do for children in a typical home—is not done for the children in the facility.
This is a rule of the facility, and it becomes necessary for fostering the children's independence.
New staff members are educated starting from this point. Children often act out to test the affection of adults. Compared to typical children, their distance is closer, and some are clingy and demanding.
This is to confirm whether the adult is an enemy or an ally.
Facility staff must not be swayed by these testing behaviors.
New staff who join with the desire to help 'pitiful children' are often labeled as hypocrites.
It might be the arrogance of the staff to think of these children as pitiful when they are simply living their normal lives in the facility.
Those staff members also grow through their interactions with the children. It is not only the children who grow.
The children of tomorrow are also the adults of tomorrow. Children grow into adults who will carry the future.
Children who could do nothing on their own eventually become adults and go out into society to work.
Because there are so many elderly people, their opinions are more easily accepted, and politics fails to invest in children. This story also points out that problem.
In an era where support facilities for those who have left care face the threat of closure and child-rearing support in the political world is being scaled back, a society that cannot invest in its children signifies the shrinking of society itself.

I must think about what I can do for the children of the future. It was a story that made me want to help support children as an adult.

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