The Roll of Children in Japanese Families

The roll of children in a family is kind of a intermediate between the parents. The parents think of their children the most important part of their family, and often more so than their lovers. The children become the heart of the family, and it so happens that the names of each individual in a family become names from a child’s perspective. As a example, when you call your wife you say “Okasan”, meaning “mother” which is the name their child uses to call their mother, and this happens vice versa. Also, this importance of the roll of children is one of the reasons the divorce rate is low in Japan. Even if the parents stopped loving each other it sometimes happens that the parents do not divorce. Children are the heart of the family in this respect as well. Because Japanese are not having children for work force anymore and are having children of their free will, this trend to “children is the heart of family” is thought to be as strong as ever before.