Why are people ignoring the Children’s Commissioner?

Let’s have a look at her latest press release and see if we can work out why so many people are ignoring the Children’s commissioner.

Many people have been misled by the way the petition calling for a referendum to overturn the law on child discipline was sold to them, Children’s Commissioner Dr Cindy Kiro said today.

Cause 1: Pretending that petition signers are stupid and don’t know what they’re signing.

“The groups behind this petition have been gathering signatures at public events around New Zealand, luring people in with such statements as ‘do you want to stop child abuse?’,” Dr Kiro said.

“Who among us does not want to stop child abuse?

Cause 2: Ignoring your responsibilities to stop actual child abuse.

But that is not the real agenda these groups are pushing.

“The agenda is political and nothing to do with the health, welfare and safety of our children.

Cause 3: Pretending that petition signers don’t know this is a political issue.

Cause 4: Pretending that petition signers might agree with you on the smacking issue.

If it were about stopping abuse, the backers of this referendum would not be holding up parents who have been charged and, in some cases, convicted of assault as good parents.

Cause 5: Pretending organisations like Family First have held up bad parents as examples.

Cause 6: Vilifying and persecuting parents who “in some cases” have been found to have acted reasonably and within the law.

Cause 6a: Undermining the courts.

It is not and never should be a parental right to assault your child.

Cause 7: Using weasel terms that cover both reasonable force and child abuse too.

Cause 8: Implying petition signers/organisers want to abuse children.

The police don’t have it wrong. They aren’t knocking on doors and taking good parents to task.

Cause 9: Outright lying!

“The groups behind these petitions need to move on. The law change has been made – and there is provision for a review already - and this is something that as a nation, we should be proud of. New Zealand has once again proved to be a leader in human rights.

Cause 10: Trying to close democratic debate after things have gone your way.

“If the petition backers truly cared about good parenting, they would, like all the reputable national and international child welfare organisations, be encouraging positive parenting. They would acknowledge that we know more about parenting and child health and development now than we did in our parents’, grandparents’ and great grandparents’ times.

Cause 11: Implying that parents having the right to physically discipline their children is “negative parenting”.

Cause 12: Siding with groups driven only by ideology and ignoring good research.

Cause 13: Insulting people’s parents and grandparents’ child-raising abilities.

Cause 14: Ignoring the increasingly appalling results of modern parenting.

“So let’s move on. If you make the decision to no longer use physical discipline in your home, how do you make the change?

“There are many family-focused organisations in New Zealand who have information on alternatives to physical discipline My office is one and you can contact us on our freephone (0800 224 453) or via our website www.occ.org.nz

“There are positive parenting courses in many communities. There is also help available from family-friendly organisations such as Plunket, SKIP (Strategies with Kids, Information for Parents – www.familyservices.govt.nz/skip/ ), Barnardos and the Families Commission.”

Cause 15: Ignoring the increasing disquiet about the effects of the new law.

Cause 16: Telling parents you know more than they do about raising their own children.