Statistics NZ released some interesting data yesterday about access to the internet and transport. Relevant to my area of interest is this:
One-parent households are the most likely to have no access to a motor vehicle.
I've had a car since I could drive. When we started our family we purchased my car from the company I'd worked for. I'd had it since new and so its history was known to me. My car and my dog (who constantly travelled in it with me) were an extension of self. Having children made having a car even more essential. Not having a vehicle would be, for me, an isolating experience.
This is just one more disadvantage single parents have to face. In general it will limit their children's opportunities and experiences. It's not hard to imagine how being carless even puts them at greater risk.
I've banged on about single parents for a long time now. It's not personal. It's about this idiot welfare system that subsidises a family structure which doesn't serve the interests of their children.
I am incredibly thankful that the teenage birth rate is dropping because that is the source of many single parent families. Long may the trend continue to be a positive one.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
" It's about this idiot welfare system that subsidises a family structure which doesn't serve the interests of their children."
Yes, but can you find a politician prepared to state this obvious and distressing fact?
Keep repeating it Lindsay, eventually just maybe, someone will pick up this line and run with it.
"I am incredibly thankful that the teenage birth rate is dropping because that is the source of many single parent families. Long may the trend continue to be a positive one."
Agreed.
"I am incredibly thankful that the teenage birth rate is dropping because that is the source of many single parent families. Long may the trend continue to be a positive one."
The teen birth rate drops under National governments, and rises under Labour. It's as simple as that.
A government that got serious about ending welfare, dropped Key's Syriza "borrow and borrow" policies, and ended the DPB instead of renaming it, the teen birthrate would drop to zero.
Post a Comment