Ryan Bridge: Why is the state parenting our kids?

There's a thing happening with parents, responsibility and the state.

Kids are either misbehaving or not learning, parents are putting their hands up, and the state is having to regulate, what kids can and can't do.

I was watching the news last night and a researcher was telling the story of an early childhood teacher.

Ryan Bridge: We've taken parenting to a level beyond useful

I'm part of the generation that grew up pre-cell phones.

Gifts were usually clothing you needed. Toys were chatter rings, marbles, maybe a skate board.

There was no 'picky eating', as we've heard about this week. If you didn't finish what was on your plate at dinner, you didn't get a treat afterwards.

LIndsay Mitchell: More children unsafe under Ardern's watch

Jacinda Ardern in 2017:

“...we are small enough that we can absolutely introduce child wellbeing policies so that New Zealand is once again a great place to bring up children and be a child.”

Since then, more children are being investigated for family harm incidents:

Bob Edlin: The case for stability and security when deciding a child’s best interests

The inexorable march to separatism – manifest in the political clamour to have Maori children removed from the protection of state welfare agencies – raises questions which most commentators have overlooked or prefer not to tackle. 

Lindsay Mitchell is not so coy.  She asks if the future of a child with a modicum of Maori blood should be decided solely by Maori members of a family and raises the matter of the rights and claims of non-Maori family members. 

Lindsay Mitchell: Falling out over whanau first

Maori Party MP Marama Fox is threatening to pull support from the government over legislation that removes cultural priority when placing a Maori child in care. But her choice of words would lead you to believe she supported the change:

"Just because we want to provide a safe and loving home doesn't make it mutually exclusive to a Maori home," Fox said.

What she actually wants is the status quo - whanau first.