WHERE'S BEST TO LIVE IN NZ AND WHAT DO WE NEED TO KNOW: PART4!!!

[AngryBeaver]

Arrgh,had to start a new thread!

Yes,you can get more land in Tauranga. Well,somewhere like Omokoroa or somewhere.Wouldn't want to live much closer than that. And I woulkdn't want to live at he Mount. Lovely as it is. Too touristy,imo.
We would like enough land for a pool (eventually) maybe a sleepout and still enough for a veggie patch and garden for kids. Don't neeed acres +. Wouldn't say no though,if we could afford it! Be nice to have a few sheep or something/

I think Mum would have to fly to Tauranga. So that would be
Manchester-London,London-Singapore, Singapore-Aukland,Aukland- Tauranga
Bad.

justa howws the back? Hope physio was a help,we may have driven past you!
Your house sounds great.
My mums friend lives in Silverdale.She has about an acre with some sheep etc
Wasn't overly impressed at but didn't give it a proper look I suppose,just stopped to buy flowers for Mums friend! Always worth another look

Apparantly 10 children a week die in the UK,due to domestic violence,shels. So you are totally right. How many cases do you see in the English papers? Certainly no where near that. Dh is not a serious news type of journo, he is much more comfortable with sleb tripe. Stuff that doesn't matter.
The kind of stuff he is dealing with at the moment really get to him.
Glad you're flights were ok littlest sorry about the jetlagged lo, though!
You are right about the separation between communities. I never realised a problem existed until I came here. I actually know peoplewho mouth the word "maori"
Dh is often stunned into silence in news meetings due to the flagrant casual racism. Worrying

Yep - I'm often stunned by the 'casual' racism too. One very senior member of staff at my work told me it was in good fun and NZ folk didn't really mean anything by it. I find it shocking and

I did an introductory Maori course last year which was a really good intro to some of the issues. Also ploughed my way through read a book on the Treaty which put it all into context.

I may be kidding myself, but I hope think that kiwi's can say racist things but on an individual basis are more open.

It's great to be back in daylight. Edinburgh was so dark. I've spent the whole trip switching lights on.

AB- I hope you feel better soon. Has your Dr suggested any treatment or investigations? Take care of yourself. TV is a good babysitter

Just found this:

www.importduty.co.nz/

You ladies might find it useful!

Just got an email from M and S, 20% off most kids clothes till Sunday 4th.

My dd1's fifth birthday today so last day of kindy yesterday, birthday today and school on Monday :). Plus we have nearly finished our new deck!

AB did you say you were going to the hospital today? Good luck if so.

Haven't even seen a doctor! Not sure what is happening. Just sitting here with hot water bottle on my tummy and tv is babysitting
DD is being presented with a certificate, for Pupil of The Week (motivated and enthusiastic learner!)in assembly today, and I can't go. She is so excited
Dh will suprise her with a trip to the petshop to purchase the mice
wss I will be really sad when ds1 has his last day at kindy at the end of Jan! I do worry about him, he is a sensitive little soul.

Is your dd excited?

Erm, that makes it sound like she is so excited that I can't go! Badly written.

Yes she's excited, she's quite bossy confident so I think she'll settle in ok though I'm sure there'll be the occasional meltdown. About 8 kids she knows will be starting in the same class in the next 6 weeks which helps.

It was quite sad her leaving kindy, I was more emotional than her though. She started on her third birthday so had been there exactly two years and really loved it. Teachers are fantastic there.

How is ds justa?

Oh ab so sorry to read what has happened. You poor thing, no wise words, but thinking of you and your family.

Have been busy getting the last of our stuff down to London to the container. Was not happy to be back in London, it was awful!!! Traffic was horrendous everywhere and the driving was crazy! We've only been gone for two months but have already dropped the frenetic, aggressive pace of life there. Phew!

Totally agree with your comments regarding what is reported in the UK in relation to crime. I am a social worker for an LA and 99% of the stuff that happens does not even make the press. The one that I know of that did (boyfriend killed baby, we removed all subsequent babies) and it only made the local newspaper. It was similar case to baby P. I think a lot of people live in ignorant bliss in the UK. They never cross paths with the people I work with and whilst some forms of abuse do cross all classes, the majority of people I work with are well and truly stuck in the underclasses. That's why I do laugh when some Brits get on their high horse about child abuse and crime in NZ, it's simply more in your face due to the low population. Having said that any child abuse is too much and the rates in NZ are still shocking.

Casual racism is common I know, but lots of people are VERY uneducated about the treaty of waitangi.....I don't know the answer but I'm not sure throwing more and more money at it is the answer. Rates of poverty and abuse within the Maori community are really worrying.

I think the UK is a lot more PC but in a good way for the most part apart from health and safety which drives me mad kids won't be allowed to play outside soon!

Argh sorry epic post, obviously have a lot on my mind! off to read vvv's AIBU

Nasty bug, justa

thanks longwhitecloud, and re health and safety bullshit madness, do you mean like this?
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2227001/Silence-market-Fruit-seller-banned-shouting-damage-peoples-health.html

crazy

I'm in need of a stiff drink.

Was just getting ready to serve up dinner, DD2 was in the high chair playing with my measuring spoons. Turn my back on her for 2 seconds and hear her squeal with delight. Think she's having fun with spoons & turn around.... She's standing on the seat of the high chair clapping.

Looks like we need to sort out better straps (it's an Ikea antilop)!

uh oh, stiff drink indeed.

AB- how are you feeling? Have you seen a DR yet? I wondered if it might be worth asking for a referral to the hospital from your GP.

My impression has always been lots of the problems in NZ such as child abuse, DV etc are linked to poverty, not race. It breaks my heart that so many kids seem to go to school hungry. If I were John Key I'd have breakfast and lunch programmes in every low decile school. How can we break the cycle of poverty with hungry kids who can't learn? It's a no brainer.

Hi All, am back from a rather exhausting trip to the UK to madness at work - that will teach me to take 3 weeks off.

Have caught up with all posts.

thelittlest - interestingly we did a study last year into breakfast programmes in low decile schools. What we found was firstly trouble recruiting decile 1 schools to take part even though all the food and milk was going to be free, so we extended the study to decile 1-4 schools. The results - only those children who already attended a breakfast at school programme or had breakfast at home took part. An absolutely miniul (if any) of the children that the programme would benefit attended - i.e. their parents couldn't even get them to school for free breakfast. The feedback from some decile 1 Boards - they thought people should feed their own children but be to do so (not more money and not free food). I don't think there is one straight forward answer. I personally would teach life skills in schools - childcare, budgeting, health and nutrition as a core subject. Breaking the cycle is key but hard. I have a friend who took in a gang member's children while he was in an open prison. He had deliberately committed a robbery to be imprisoned as he couldn't cope with being a single dad. The very switched on judge didn't put him back in jail but sent him to the open facility where he had to attend courses on budgeting/child care etc... He reckons it was the best thing that could have happened to him - he's still in a gang and still likely to end up in jail at some stage but there is usually food in the cupboard and the kids get breakfast even if they have to make it themselves. They taught him things like - if you only have $10 left walking the the garage to buy a few bags of chippies is not the answer. Walk to the shops for a loaf of bread, jar of peanut butter and whatever fruit is cheap etc.... Skills he didn't have as a parent.

The hard thing is who do you help those children who's parents are too disfunctional to look after themselves, let alone their children and how do you break that cycle.

Long post but this is an area of particular interest to me.

PS what does seem to work is free fruit is school.

hmmm that posted while I was thinking about whether to post as it sounds very preacherish - sorry I get quite passionate about health inequalities and could post experiences until you are all bored to tears.

it's also poorly typed as I hadn't proof read it but ho hum, too late to correct.....I'll just go back to my gardening. Got up early this morning to take ds1 to a child and baby fair where we sold a lot of the dss clothes, toys etc...they made $210 profit and are very happy even if I have been sorting, washing, pricing and boxing items every evening this week! Ds 2 is saving for an ipod and ds1 a laptop. ds2 is nearly there with other money he has from chores and selling things on trade me.

Sibble - those are really interesting things about the breakfast clubs. They've had some real success with them in Ireland in our DEIS (equivalent of low decile) schools.

I recently watched a report on child poverty in NZ and the health implications. It was really shocking.

I wonder would free lunches be more successful than free breakfasts - I mean, the likelihood of students being in at lunch time is higher, and then there's the guarantee of at least children being well-fed & able to concentrate for the afternoon.

I'm being kept awake by a morepork outside the bedroom window.

Pesky wildlife

Another thing on the list of things DH neglected to tell me about NZ (top of the list are wetas)

Just googled weta

Actual vom

vvviola - I havn't seen any research about lunches but my gut instinct would be yes, they might be more successful as as you say children are already there. However, lunch doesn't stop those children who havn't had breakfast being hungry and under achieving in the morning. I think that's why the fruit programme has worked so well. It's at morning tea, compulsory and at the start alot of the children hadn't eaten some of the fruit on offer - maybe a big morning tea is the temporary solution while a long term policy to address wider issues kicks in?????

The clogs are whirring.