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I am a proud kiwi. I was born and raised in the land of the long white cloud. If you ask me, I'll proudly say New Zealand is the best country in the world.

I honestly do love this country.


But I have to criticize, and I do have that right. I have no right to criticize the USA, England or even Iran, but I can talk about my own country.


We're terrible. New Zealand has an appalling child abuse rate. And it is time to say, this is not all right. It is not ok.

Anti-Smacking
In the past few months, a controversial bill was passed by parliament, effectively removing the parent's right to physically discipline their child(ren).
Dubbed the "Anti-Smacking Bill" by the media, many opposed this direct interference in their own rights as parents.

The problem I had here was, what was I to think. I had one hand people saying it is a parents right to do this, and it was the way to correct a child, and the other side saying it was abuse.

Then I thought about SupperNanny. I have never ever seen her condone smacking or hitting children. None of her techniques require causing physical pain on the child.


Its all about the mindset. We were brought up thinking it was ok to hit your kids.

The thing is, New Zealand has one of the highest levels of child abuse in the world! Some people don't think the two can be related at all, but you have to draw some conclusions out of it.


In the end I side with the Bill supporters. We have a problem with child abuse, and that problem is not helped by people clamoring it is their right to hit their kids. We need to wake up. It is not ok, things aren't great.

I love this country, but this is just shameful. And the following story is horrifying, and yet it proves we are still appaling towards children.

Child Torture
‘Torture’ of baby prompts call for Maoris to report abusers Govt has radical plan on child abuse

Recently it has come to light that there have been serious cases of child abuse in the north island. You can read about the specifics in the articles I linked, but they include being pegged to a clothes line, and being shoved in a dryer.

The fact that those were not reported are an indication of NZ's sickness. Someone had to know. A family member, a friend. They should have called the police.

We have a long way to go. We're a great country, but we are also appalling bad with children.



New Zealand: Safe to raise your kids?

Right now, I don't honestly know.