Positive parenting
International research shows that to help children develop into their full potential, parenting should be a positive experience by providing a loving, respectful and secure relationship between adult and child.
There are many ways you can find out about positive parenting:
• Talk to your Plunket Nurse, other well child provider, or health centre
• Plunket provides free parenting education courses (PEPE) – contact your local Plunket office for more details
• Have a read through the free SKIP pamphlets (Strategies with Kids, Information for Parents.)
• Read about ‘New Zealand’s Child Discipline Law: What it Means to You’
New Zealand's Child Discipline Law: What it means to you.pdf
• Choose to hug is a free booklet (below) which provides some tools and suggestions for dealing with the kinds of demanding everyday behaviours that all children can exhibit
New Zealands’ child discipline law
Until 2007, a loop hole in the law had meant that parents could respond to charges of child abuse by claiming they’d used ‘reasonable parental force’ for the purpose of correcting the child’s behaviour. The old legal defence no longer exists – this means that if an adult is taken to court for hitting a child they cannot use ‘correction’ as an excuse.
The law allows parents to restrain or physically remove children from a situation to keep them or another safe from harm, and to prevent or stop them from engaging in any criminal, offensive or disruptive behaviour.
Parents can also perform the normal daily tasks that are part of good care and parenting - such as carrying a child to their room at bedtime even if they protest or holding them back from
running onto the road - and enforcing boundaries - such as stopping them from hurting another person or animal, shouting in a restaurant and other disruptive behaviour.
For the full law, visit the New Zealand legislation website
One of the fears that people had about the law change was that parents would be prosecuted for lightly smacking their child. The law reminds police that they can decide not to prosecute where assault is ‘inconsequential’ (like a light smack). In fact very few complaints for ‘inconsequential assaults’ have been made since the law was changed and only cases of significant assault are being prosecuted.
The law - the Crimes (Substituted Section 59) Amendment Act 2007 - will be reviewed to see how it is working. You can show your support for this important law via a postal referendum scheduled for 31 July to 21 August 2009. For more information visit www.yesvote.org.nz.
