Theatre for the very young( “Baby Drama” ):Another happy-family-friendly Policy
Jackie E. Chang（神経心理学者、特別児童専門ドラマセラピスト、演出家、俳優）
According to Global Agewatch 2015, Japan is the 8th country in the world in Aging index while Switzerland takes the 1st. Among 1st to 10th
Japan is the only Asian country and the others are all European. In Japan, 24.0%, the proportion of the under 14 yrs of the whole population of
1970s fell to 12.6% in 2015 and is expected to be fallen to 9.7% in 2050. The population of the over 65 yrs (38.8%) will be almost 4 times morethan of under 14 yrs at the time. (Almanac of data on Japanese children 2017. P.35) Among fewer than 1 million births of Japan in 2016 鳥 取県 , 德 鳥 県 and 高 知 県 show the lowest population of 0-4 yrs olds which is almost the 1/17 of 東京都 and 1/12 of 神奈川県 . (p.42)
Comparing to 1970s nowadays you cannot come across very young babies often. Long period of watching(or observing as the third) orhaving intimate relationship with babies becomes a kind of rare things! You can have smarter countermove 對 應 策 toward to what you havedata more; It means you know better. The very young child abuse is one of less smart behaviors toward what you do not know well, caused by
misunderstanding: of adult (her/him)self and of the children. The calling to Child Support Center in 2000 was less than 10,000 cases but
increased to 120,000 in 2016. (Tokyo Newspaper Aug. 17, 2017) The less babies were born the more child abuse occurs. And the increasing
volume catches our eyes.
The stress of believing she/he didn? t know what to do, wasn? t a perfect mother/father easily compounds with depression; believing
nobody understands me, nobody helps me, this baby just try to make me diﬃcult (from mothers & fathers confessions in Korea & US)
Raising a child is diﬃcult and world widely, women has more responsibility to take care of babies under 3yrs. Here is English mothers data
which shows how much physical and concrete challenges they have. 3/4 of them expressed motherhood had been much more challenging
than they have ever imagined. Generally speaking it is keeping eyes on a child 24hours/7days but high rankings are;1.
Sleepless nights/sleep deprivation
2.
Tantrums
3.
Having patience4.
Keeping on top of the household chores
5.
Getting children to eat the right foods
6.
Potty training
7.
Sibling rivalry
8.
Juggling childcare
9.
Give your child what they want without spoiling them10.
Getting children to clean their teeth properly
11.
Dealing with an ill child
12.
Leaving your baby for the ﬁrst time
13.
Getting a baby to sleep through the night14.
Getting a baby/child to sleep at night15.
Not constantly worrying and wrapping your child in cotton wool
(TOP 50 CHALLENGES FACED BY PARENTS (AS TOLD BY MOTHERS), 29 August 2012
To know the very youngs better you need information; not only about what they are like but how others feel and react toward them. If mothers ofthe very young can talk to each other it can happen very naturally. That exactly is what I have experienced with the ʻconfused-self doubtingnewly becoming- mothersʼ after watching theatre for the very young. Because mothers and babies know same contents(the theatre) mothers
have chance to watch their babies? reaction which is diﬀerent from that of they assumed. when I saw my baby laughing and responding I felt like
he is also a human being who I can communicate with. Oh my god, I don? t know what I am feeling now but NOW, I have a conﬁdence that I
can raise him for the ﬁrst time. And when I see other moms around me I felt like I am not alone and I am not the only stupid. It consoled me a lot.
ʻwa 和ʼ is a very important philosophy of Japan. Babies need to experience ʻwaʼ from their parents and people around them. The earlier thebetter. Babies need to have a chance to be gathered to share their experience, neuropsychologically speaking, their ʻsensations andperceptionsʼ . Theatre for the very young can provide them with suﬃcient experiential environment which happens rare at home; 1) variouspeople(including other babies and their parents)? s physical movement 2) various sensations and perceptions through theatrical art 3) Experienceof being together and responding together. When mothers smile together or breathing out wow babies turn their heads to mothers and theTWO laugh TOGETHER.
France has family-friendly policies since 1870s, Switzerland, Germany and Scandinavian countries even have ʻstate feminismʼ but birth rates
have decreased much faster than Japan. Family support policy needs to aim the early timing of huge change of life style because it brings up
many unknown challenges. Parenting is diﬃcult and new. Parents need social time with a very speciﬁc common subject which is about ʻunknown
experience of child caringʼ . But it should not evoke guilty feeling or inferiority of parents. Theatre for the very young which aims the babies
under 3 yrs can be a good opportunity for parents to share their experiences without feeling low because the objective of the meeting is Not?parenting? itself. And parents can be relaxed more under the atmosphere of art. Now it is the time for Family friendly policy can be also artistic!