Social problems contributed, with both parents in many families having one or more jobs.
This return to the 'latch key' children idea is bothering me.
It was one of the reasons the DPB was introduced in the first place. To allow single parents to stay at home with their children. That proved no panacea.
But I am not convinced that two working parents is really the crux of the problem. Parents who work are taking financial responsibility for their kids. It follows they are more likely to be taking responsibility for them, and each other, in other ways as well.
One child psychologist says poor parenting is part of the problem, and exposure to drugs or alcohol in the womb is having a terrible impact of some children.....There was a subset of children who had more challenging behaviour than previously seen. "Part of it could be exposure to drugs and alcohol in utero – we really under-diagnose that in New Zealand. We know we have children who have been exposed to P in utero that are in schools now ... but it's not going to be the only factor."
Holding down more than one job and abusing drugs and alcohol isn't very easy to do, especially with more and more drug-testing in the workplace.
I am more inclined to accept that the worst children are coming from dysfunctional family relying on a mix of welfare, and income from crime or the black market; these families began with a birth to a young mother who has probably been abused in her lifetime, and grow through a succession of partners. Not exclusively but more likely.
There are families with mothers, for example, working night shifts where older siblings are left to supervise the younger and it is true that they get baby-sat by X Boxes and movies and left to play into the night.
A working one or two parent family may neglect a child through sheer lack of time but I would love to see some evidence that the problem is about too much work and not about too much welfare.
There is also the obvious point that needs making. Two parents working by necessity are paying the taxes that support the 113,000 people on the DPB. And the only research available on the subject shows that CYF Care and Protection notifications are nearly 4 times more likely to occur to a child in a DPB dependent home.
7 comments:
When my children were much younger, I noticed that a number of the really aggressive children that we came across were the ones who were in daycare, presumably because both parents worked.
Yeah, and when my children were much younger I noticed that being in childcare made them a lot more responsible, unlike the pampered little emperors and empresses who'd been made the centre of their mothers' lives and were used to being the most important person in the room. Everybody's got an anecdote.
I think all combinations and permutations have been covered in the comments section of the original article Lindsay.
I do however wish these anonymous psychologists, who presume expertise by title alone, be identified and recognised for their 'wannabe noticed statements'that have only really achieved the removal of the celebratory champagne on conception ... perhaps the distance between psychologists eyes should be measured?
Again, Lindsay their is substance to your viewpoint.
(Sorry - don't know what happened to the first attempt to reply!)
That article incensed me. As does the comment from Lucia Maria. What an assumption!
And my kids' parents are separated. Doomed!
I shed a tear this morning at my son's morning assembly, when he had to give a talk on his favourite people. He asked me to take the morning off work to attend, and was very secretive about the "people". I was expecting him to talk about Ben 10 avatars. Instead his favourite people are.....(I recorded this):
"Mummy and Daddy, because they go to work to make sure I get all the food I want and I have lots of clothes for the snow, and they make lots of time to hug me and love me and my brothers. I like that they work because I know they are important to other people as well."
Thank goodness for waterproof mascara.
As Jess Jackson said - "Your children need your presence more than your presents." Sadly our social engineering experts and our CYFS bullies have overlooked this; simply because they have never seen the world from the eyes of a child.
I agree with you childern need parents presence and love.
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