Pitter-patter: Why Japan is giving jobs to toddlers at nursing homes

Japanese nursing homes are apparently hiring infants as young as 18 months old to make their elderly clients happier, as their own grandchildren rarely visit them. These are the infant employees “hired” by the Ichoan Nursing Home in Kitakyushu to make the days of its senior residents more enjoyable. Rena Shinohara, age eighteen months, is one of the toddlers who makes some of the home’s one hundred inhabitants happy. She smiles, and the elderly in wheelchairs and walkers grin back at her as she totters through the building’s doors once a week. The purpose of the newborns’ presence is to lessen the sense of loneliness that comes with getting older, particularly in Japan where one-third of the population is over 65. According to a 2022 study by the Japanese government, 40% of respondents stated they had experienced loneliness at least occasionally, indicating that the issue is becoming more prevalent in the nation. 2021 saw the appointment of its first “minister of loneliness,” whose job it is to facilitate connections between individuals of all ages, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The concept of baby workers was conceived three years ago by Kimie Gondo, the director of the nursing home, after witnessing the joy it brought to the residents during her own newborn granddaughter’s visit. “When I saw the elderly people smile, I realized the power possessed by infants,” Ms. Gondo stated. “Just by seeing a baby walking around, they smile and they start to speak.” There are currently about seventy infant workers at the nursing home, and they receive ice cream and diapers at the end of their shift. ‘Great life instructors’ are the residents. “It’s funny, Rena has a job but I’m not working,” remarked Rena’s mother, Kanae Shinohara. Rena’s mother took her to the nursing home so she might meet new people after the family moved to the prefecture on Kyushu Island, Japan, more than a year ago. In a report, Shinohara described the inhabitants of the nursing home as “great life teachers” and added, “here she gets to interact with kids her age as well as grandfathers and grandmothers who are a bit more difficult to come across.” Rena and her petite coworkers have flexible schedules, but they must retire before their three-year-old daughter reaches adulthood.