Editorial: Change or more tots die

What spins your wheels these days? I'm a pushover for innocent babies and small children. My mother said: "There's nothing so wonderful as a tiny baby - a new little life starting out in God's world, and new hope for better things."

I also save news photos and cuttings. In my scrapbook is a haunting collage of recently murdered babies. many children suffer shocking abuse in two main ways.

1. Inadequate basic care at home - lack of nourishing meals, warm clothing, warm homes.

2. Physical abuse, usually by family or parents, leading to deaths.

Many reasons and excuses are given - low income, despair, mismanaging money, poor education, unemployment, a victim mentality, peer pressure, inherited lack of know-how to empower families, a sense of an uncaring society, the rich-poor divide, and more.

Our record of teaching, caring, preventing, empowering, being a whole village fit to raise children, is abysmal. This must change. In fact, the whole way we think of ourselves as New Zealanders needs an about-turn.

What are we waiting for? Community leadership and the creation of "intentional community with a purpose".

Parents who abuse their children do so because firstly, they don't know there's a better way, and secondly, they haven't been taught how to live and communicate this better way.

Many abusers are under the influence of alcohol or drugs - ie out of their right minds. Alcohol misuse is the No1 issue affecting our economy and country.

The word "poverty" is now on our lips and in media headlines. Is New Zealand in fact a "poor" country? Is our economy such that we cannot feed our children?

Poverty of food and possessions is one thing; more serious issues are poverty of knowledge and skills, of home and human environment, mental health, spirit. The continuation of these realities indicts us all.

We'll be making progress when mandatory social life-skills education becomes part of "what we do in New Zealand" so that we can raise our happy families, free of fears.

New Zealand can do this; Northland can kick-start the process. Why are we waiting? Remember those innocent tots? Delcilia, James, Lillybing, Coral, Chris and Cru, Nia ... Come on, Northland. It's not that hard.