Anger as kids mimic All Black haka

Children as young as 6 are copying their All Black heroes and performing the "throat-slitting" haka - and angry parents say the last thing on their minds is the innocent Maori meaning behind it.

Some families with young children are joining growing calls for the controversial ritual to be dropped, saying it is making their children aggressive.

But All Blacks manager Darren Shand said yesterday that "nothing is going to change".

Wellington mother Gaynor Brymer said her 6-year-old son Oliver often used the haka's final gesture, a thumb drawn across the throat, to wind her up. "He clearly means that he's going to slit someone's throat," she said.

Many children at Oliver's school were fascinated by the haka but she thought the final gesture was violent and vicious and should be dropped.

Kapa O Pango composer Derek Lardelli had earlier explained that the end of the haka represented "drawing vital energy into the heart and lungs". The final word, "Ha", meant "the breath of life".

Shand said a recent review of the new haka had far more positive than negative feedback.

"As it stands, at the moment, nothing is going to change. It just comes back to understanding the meaning of that gesture."

But Brymer said children did it simply for a reaction and had no idea what the Maori meaning was.

"When my 6-year-old son stands with his eyes ablaze and bulging, drawing his hand slowly across his throat in response to a mild admonishment from his mother, I doubt he is wishing the 'breath of life' upon me," she said.

In Auckland, a father of two young boys said he was appalled after his 7-year-old son performed the throat-slitting gesture to his 5-year-old brother after a row. The two boys had been arguing over DVDs and the older boy used the haka move to tell his brother to back off - making him cry. "My older boy had watched the All Blacks perform the new haka on TV and the next thing he was drawing his finger across his throat in front of his brother, who got quite upset.

"They often get in squabbles but this was the first time I had seen him use the haka as a threat. I wondered how many other kids are doing it in the playground. I don't think it is a good thing as it is clearly teaching kids that these kinds of gestures are acceptable. Kids are very impressionable and tend to mimic what they see their heroes doing."

Catherine Spence, child and adolescent service co-ordinator at the Auckland Family Counselling and Psychotherapy Centre, said she wouldn't be surprised if copying the gesture "became prevalent".

Children would copy each other as well as mimicking the All Blacks and many would not understand any deeper meaning behind it, she said.

Fiona Ayers, a registered Auckland psychologist, said 6-year-olds were "natural mimics" and good at finding ways to annoy their parents. "They'll be quite aware of the gesture because of the publicity around it."

Parents should ignore the gesture or explain to their child why it wasn't acceptable, she said.

Wallabies coach John Connolly recently criticised the new haka, saying the throat-slitting gesture had no place in international rugby. "Young people copy the All Blacks and I would hate to think there were tragic consequences somewhere down the road."

But All Blacks coach Graham Henry defended the gesture, telling media "the actions in the haka are traditional Maori actions and what you interpret might be quite different to what they really mean".