Comments on: Unconscionable Journalism from the New Zealand Herald

By: PM

PM — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:39:34 +0000

As a solo Dad who has brought up two very small children from a “very” early age on my own for the last fifteen years of my life I have to say that in my experiance nearly all men have not the slightest idea of baby rearing and what it requires of a human being. It is by far the hardest job on the Planet. Dying in battle or making a million dollars is simple childsplay compared to the emotional and character challenges that pre five child rearing presents. Thats why losing Plunket in our NZ was by far the most of ignorant thing we ever did and that decision put money in front of our childrens lives.
Because of my own experiance I cannot and will never judge any young mother highly isolated inside a “nuclear” family iso house with almost no societal support. We seem to think good “mothering” is instinctive, it is not, it is learnt from a “good” mother.
All the comments here are fron men apart from one and what the paper did by pillaring this women is indefensable”,the purest of gender team ignorance. Guys, try actually doing it yourself before you ever criticize the people who do. Don’t just go off to your ant like soldier / worker job, then come home and criticise your highly isolated wife on your own childhood experiances. There were a hundred mothers to learn from in a tribe, now we have a wide screen TV and The Nanny. Do we really wonder why in our homes just as on our roads accidents do regularly happen, and that they often happen to the nicest people. To make money from this occurance and to criticize what you yourself simply have no knowledge of, is shameful. I know how you will all reply after this..BLAH BLAH, how dare he? What a total joke, men talking about baby rearing.
Let the one amongst you who is without sin throw the first stone, go on, here Mr Herald, heres a nice big one just for you. This column’s comments and the Heralds article is like something out of the dark ages. Shame on the lot of you.

By: Joe the Italian

Joe the Italian — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:09:57 +0000

Merv gives every appearance of having a journalistic background. Journos. as we all know, thrive on criticisng everything, just so long as it isn’t journalists.

By: Clifford Gretano

Clifford Gretano — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:07:21 +0000

Don: “I could see it coming a mile away.”

You “could”, could you? The marvels of buying a crystal ball fron the $2 Shop.

By: Don

Don — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:43:41 +0000

Years in a newsroom will make you both. I could see it coming a mile away.

By: BE

BE — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:13:22 +0000

Personally I think the two stories were set up in tandem.

Don, I’m not sure whether life has made you cynical or highly perceptive. Possibly both.

By: Don

Don — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:09:01 +0000

Personally I think the two stories were set up in tandem. The original story may have superficially been a “poor-woman-god-love-her-warning-to-others” story, but it was just a forerunner for the “bad mother investigated by CYFS” follow-up. Dog whistling pure and simple and I expect we’ll see a “why, oh why?/stop this shame” series on negligent parenting any day now.

By: BE

BE — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:58:07 +0000

How did the reporter feel when she was asked to track down the babies’ mother for comment?

Your final point is the relevant one, I think, Kate. This wasn’t just a ‘relative of the deceased’, this was the mother of a baby whose death may have resulted from her failure to take proper care of the child’s safety.

By: BE

BE — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:55:25 +0000

With you on this one Brian – Perhaps the answer can be found in part below:

Don’t want to direct people to a competitor’s site, Top Bloke, but it’s a good piece.

By: BE

BE — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:52:26 +0000

I’m sorry Brian, but my sypathies are with Merv and PJR. My parents had an 11 month old staying with them for a few days and he was nowhere near old enough, and wasn’t left, to fend for himself in the bath.

Well of course I absolutely agree that small children should not be left in the bath alone. That is not the issue here. The issue has to do with the publication of the woman’s name and the names of her children and the inappropriateness of seeking an interview from a mother who has just lost one of her 11-month-old twins.

By: Sir Arthur Steeb-Greebling

Sir Arthur Steeb-Greebling — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:12:54 +0000

It says in pararaph 2 of the original story that the twins were 11 months old.