Old Enough! is the most terrifying, nail-biting television show of all time … for parents of small children.
The TVO Original, available to stream across the country from Sept. 8, follows Canadian kids between the ages of 3 and 6 as they go out on errands in their neighbourhoods all by themselves.
It’s the first North American version of Nippon TV’s long-running Japanese reality show with the same name – which became a worldwide sensation when Netflix picked it up two years ago. (”Aggressively adorable,” per The New York Times.)
The Globe and Mail’s J. Kelly Nestruck spoke with Old Enough! narrator and improv legend Colin Mochrie over Zoom about trusting kids and what parents can learn from improv.
Had you watched the Japanese version of Old Enough! when you signed for this Canadian one?
I didn’t see it until I got the job. They sent me some clips so I could get up to speed. Can I ask you, as a parent, did the show fill you with anxiety?
You can’t flip this Q&A around, Colin – but, yes, it did. What were your feelings?
There is something a little anxiety-causing when you see a four- or five-year-old head off by themselves to do something. But I knew they were completely protected and safe. I knew neighbours and the people they were going to see were briefed: “There’s going to be a child coming to see you. It’s all right. They’re not running away from home.”
What attracted you to do this show besides the big TVO paycheque?
This one I auditioned for – which was great. I don’t really get a chance to audition a lot. They liked me and asked me to do it. It was one of those lucky accidents where I got involved with a show that is just incredibly charming and delightful and I think teaches our participants something about themselves and their children or their parents.
It’s also very emotional – at least if you have a five-year-old and a one-year-old in your house. You end up weeping throughout, just watching children walk down the street. Can you tell me a little bit about the process of narrating it?
They had scripts when I walked in – and every once in a while they’d go: “Can you just make up something here?” which I’m more than happy to do.
I was interested by the segment with the single mom – because it sort of flipped generational expectations. It was the grandmother who was nervous – and it was the mother who felt safer sending her kid out. What was your approach when your daughter was a kid?
We were kind of helicopter-ish. It took us a while to have a child, so when Kinley came along we were maybe a little more protective than we should have been. Deb was better at pushing the boundaries. Although the first time Kinley walked to school by herself, Deb was like 200 feet behind, hiding behind lampposts and mailboxes. But she made sure she did it when I was out of town because I’m the weak link in the family.
There’s always one.
It seemed like in every episode, there was one parent who was not totally on board. It also depends on the culture that the parents came from. There were some cultures where the parents were, you know, “I learned how to be independent at a young age.” And then there were others where it was, “I was very protected as a child.”
What age was it when you and Deb let your kid go to the school alone for the first time?
I was mid-40s, I guess.
Oh, I meant, how old was Kinley?
Eight. A 7 or an 8.
There’s just totally opposite discourses that you encounter as a parent. You hear that the New York parent who let their fifth grader go to school on a subway alone is committing child abuse. And then there’s the narrative that you might be ruining your children by not trusting them enough when they’re 4.
It’s finding that middle ground. With these episodes, what’s great is the kids build up more self-confidence. Some are a little reticent, a little scared. But once they do their errand there’s that pride they have when they come back and the parents say, “Oh, maybe we can give them a little more responsibility.” Of course, you’re going to always protect your child from so many things out there. But you need to give them that little bit of independence so they feel stronger within themselves, more confident about what they can do.
In this Canadian version, the journeys the kids go on are often in these neighbourhoods or suburbs that just don’t seem made for kids walking. One street didn’t have a sidewalk; another, a kid was walking on the sidewalks and there were cars half parked on it. I wish that my neighbourhood was also full of extras posing as crossing guards everywhere.
It would be nice. Nowadays it just seems like there’s no sidewalks and no roads, everything is under construction. It all feels dangerous. So, I think that was probably an added anxiety for everyone involved, making sure, first of all, that the kids were safe.
Did the children ever find out that they were closely shadowed on their journeys?
I don’t know if they told them after everything was done. But they were certainly shielded throughout the process. They thought the people working around their house were working on the internet or that there were street workers.
One of the kids looked briefly at a camera and I thought he was about to have his Truman Show moment. I guess everyone’s used to seeing everyone with cameras nowadays though.
Yeah, that’s true. You just see people just talking to themselves all the time.
What were the moments that you found most appealing as a viewer watching the series.
The ones where the siblings were together. I found that really heartwarming – how the older one would really take care of the younger one. I’m such a sucker for family relationships.
You didn’t feel that the writers went a little bit too easy on the siblings who went to get their parents espressos and came back with one, half spilled, and a bag of candy from a store they weren’t supposed to go to?
As someone who shops regularly and constantly forgets things, I was impressed by the kids. I mean, it made me feel better about myself. Of course, we were there to be more positive about the kids rather than point out the deficiencies of what they did. We’re so, as a society, obsessed with failure. But failure is, especially in the world of improv anyway, a positive thing because that’s where you learn about yourself, what you can do. And failure never lasts longer than that moment. You’re on to the next thing.
Old Enough! is available through the TVO Docs and TVOkids YouTube channels and on the TVO smart TV apps.