Shut CYF down

[Winston001]

Risks - I would not and did not let my children go anywhere alone at age 9 let alone age 4. However I did take them to many playgrounds, beaches and other places and sat nearby, always within voice range and generally where I could see what was going on.

My assessment of the risks were - physical accident (no biggie), roads and cars, dogs (my daughter was terrified), big kids (there are some nasty ones out there), and way down the list, child predators.

Incidentally, my children attended a good primary school and there were two child molestation incidents over three years. One a complete stranger, the other a parent of one of the children. Oh, and a convicted prowler who wanted the right to be around the school! Sadly these people exist.

[Ixion]

This sort of bullshit really pisses me off. When I was nine we (mates ) would disappear all day. Off before breakfast, home at dusk.

Only worry anyone had was that we didn't tear our clothes.

(How on earth did they persuade a nine year old lad to take his little sister along, though. At nine little sisters are NOT cool)

[Ixion]

Risks - I would not and did not let my children go anywhere alone at age 9 let alone age 4. However I did take them to many playgrounds, beaches and other places and sat nearby, always within voice range and generally where I could see what was going on.

.

Jolly glad you wasn't my dad! No way a kid is going to have any fun (or make progress toward self reliance and such like) with parents fussing away in the background, putting a damper on everything, and stopping anything that looks like fun.

When I was about seven I headed off one morning into the bush behind the house with a couple of mates (as most kids around did). And one thing and another, wandered further than normal, into parts that we'd never been before. And got ourselves lost.

After group consultation we ended up bivvying up for the night and found our way out the next morning. I got a right hiding for that. Expected, we all knew that we'd be in deep shit when we got home. Just all agreed that we had to face the music .Parents weren't too worried, but if we hadnt showed up by lunchtime they'd have started looking

But - it taught me a lot. Self confidence , self responsibility, and that sort of thing, not panicing,being able to rely on y' mates, all good stuff

Where the hell do kids nowadays get to experience that sort of thing.

[Usarka]

This sort of bullshit really pisses me off. When I was nine we (mates ) would disappear all day. Off before breakfast, home at dusk.

You clearly had irresponsible parents. Did they not know you could have got hurt in so many ways?????

But yes, likewise. I recall riding my bike through school grounds when i was 10 and getting chased by a kid swinging a heavy gauge chain at my head. I learnt a lot from that incident about personal safety (how to avoid trouble and get out of dodge), other people, and life in general.

Teaching kids to avoid trouble by witholding responsibility and trust seems a bit wussy to me.

[Skyryder]

The issue is not a nine year old boy with his sister Devnull but the fact that the father seems to think it's ok for a nine year old to 'babysit' a four year old.

As for the red rep you gave me you appear to believe that a nine year old has the maturity to babysit. I don't.

Skyryder

[Usarka]

As for the red rep you gave me you appear to believe that a nine year old has the maturity to babysit. I don't.

One of us has been smoking too much crack cause i don't recall giving any red rep........

But I would suggest *some* 9 year olds would have the maturity to take their sister around the corner to a park if the parameters were clearly defined.

[Ixion]

You clearly had irresponsible parents. Did they not know you could have got hurt in so many ways?????

More pertinently, *we* quickly learned, the hard way, that we could get hurt in so many ways. And after a few lessons , took care not to get hurt. We didn't need our parents to keep us safe, we kept ourselves and each other safe.

[Marmoot]

[I]
That's the crux of the whole thing. CYF has a DUTY to investigate.

That's why CYF deserves to be disbanded. Brainless political correctness without capability of discretionary thoughts are common traits of either robots or animals, not human beings.

And if the law says children of up to 14 needs to be supervised fulltime, then the law is sick. 5 is appropriate, 10 may be, 11 is pushing it, 14 is just absurd.

[flyingcr250]

They've failed. Serious Child Abuse is rising and they pull stuff like this:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2546...-alone-in-park

We're in a recession. We can't afford a state-funded Gestapo and community based informants at the moment.

just anothe example of how this country has become a nanna state. my knefew is 7 and he takes his brother(3) down to the dairy by himself all the time, the grin on his face when he gets back says it all. at the end of the day a child is safer at the park by their selves, than in the care of CYFS.

when i was 9 me and my brother would dissapear after breakfast and be back intime for tea, always by ourselves, ok we didnt go into town or anything, we just went bush for the whole day.

[Indoo]

So CYFS received a report of children being neglected which would on the face of it appear to be justified from a member of the public seeing a 4 year old without any adult supervision. They did a basic enquiry to see if there was any basis to it, decided that there wasn't and left it at that without taking any action, how shocking.

Damned if they do and damned if they don't.

[James Deuce]

So CYFS received a report of children being neglected which would on the face of it appear to be justified from a member of the public seeing a 4 year old without any adult supervision. They did a basic enquiry to see if there was any basis to it, decided that there wasn't and left it at that without taking any action, how shocking.

Damned if they do and damned if they don't.

Rubbish. What happened to people being people and asking the kids if Mum and Dad had said it was Ok to be alone in the park? Asking for a phone number so they could ring Mum and Dad to see if it was OK?

The casual acceptance of curtain twitiching and alerting the "authorities" is the real problem with this country. CYF can't fix anything, They are the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. In the meantime we've programmed society in general and communities to not look out for each other. Instead of demanding someone else fix it, how about getting involved as an option?

This will have been a busybody dropping someone they didn't like in the crap. There's no concern for the kids in this, just a kitchen-Hitler abusing a reporting priviliege. Yes I am leaping to conclusions.

[Deano]

Lack of community isn't it ? 20 years ago the 'complainant's' would have known the kids and there would have been 3 or 4 households watching...no problem.

[Ixion]

So CYFS received a report of children being neglected which would on the face of it appear to be justified from a member of the public seeing a 4 year old without any adult supervision. They did a basic enquiry to see if there was any basis to it, decided that there wasn't and left it at that without taking any action, how shocking.

Damned if they do and damned if they don't.

"Members of the public" need to learn to mind their own ruddy business. Far too many nosey interfering snooping busybodies around these days.

And I'd wager that CYS didn't "leave it at that without taking any action"

From the press report

Williams [CYS head] said most parents, when made aware by CYF of the risks, were able to make more suitable arrangements.

"Suitable arrangements" my arse

[FROSTY:Me]

Ya know I don't envy them their job.
My ex wife got a visit from them for exactly the same reason. mr (then)4 and mr then 8 happily playing in the park on their own--apparently too dangerous being unsupervised.--yet the park BACKS ON to her house.
Meanwhile could I ask if they got called to the home of the kids who refused to leave their house which was right next to the huge industrial blaze in henderson last weekend? Literally flames meters away from their house and mum and dad were Out -had been for hours.

[Motu]

Rubbish.

The casual acceptance of curtain twitiching and alerting the "authorities" is the real problem with this country.

This will have been a busybody dropping someone they didn't like in the crap. There's no concern for the kids in this, just a kitchen-Hitler abusing a reporting priviliege. Yes I am leaping to conclusions.

Yes,the problem is not so much the authorities,but with busybody people - like the people on this site posting about riders wearing jeans and open faced helmets.They blame the government for the nanny state.....but they are the ones causing it.These laws are brought in by members of Parliament because their voters push them into it.