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.

Alwyn Poole: Singapore and what NZ can learn re Maths Education

In mathematics, the main topic of PISA 2022, Singapore 15-year-olds in score 575 points compared to an average of 472 points in OECD countries.

According to the most recent PISA results, New Zealand students’ average score in mathematics is 479, which is slightly above the OECD average, but represents a significant decline from previous years, with the score dropping 15 points from 2018, indicating a concerning trend in New Zealand’s mathematical performance compared to other developed nations.

Carolyn Moynihan: A shameful scandal offers New Zealand a chance to start again in caring for kids

New Zealanders during my lifetime have regarded our country as “a great place to bring up kids”. It still is – if you know how to bring up kids. If you didn’t learn good parenting from your own upbringing, you could be struggling, especially if you are poor, have a child with special needs, or a partner who is abusive.

In the mid-20th century, if parents had a child who was deaf, disabled or mentally disturbed, and lacked other support, they were often advised to place them in institutional care. Children in homes where they were neglected and abused would be removed by a welfare officer and placed with foster parents or in a state or church “home”.

John MacDonald: We need to prepare people better for parenting

If you’re a parent of any age or stage —you might have little ones or you might be a grandparent, or somewhere in-between— you might find this a bit weird.

But I think the time has come for us to start treating people who are about to become parents the way we treat people who want to drive a car or a truck or a motorbike.