(17-09-2024, 09:29 AM)kiwimade64 Wrote: No, I won't be going back, popeye.  I have enough on my plate with MrK's health slowly deteriorating.  He has so many appointments with doctors and other health care people, I would have more time off than working.  He is being assessed for a walking frame on Friday

(16-09-2024, 03:16 PM)Jan Wrote: Have been in a dark hole but the supposed assassination attempt deserves comment - wonder who paid for that to happen - the red necks will be impressed -Kamala is doing so well Trump will try anything
My grandson who has been very worried about me sent me this - thought it might appeal on here - gave me a giggle
https://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/2153498740.jpg
A couple of years ago a boy turned up at breakfast club just tagged along with the rest of the kids from one of the motels - when asked what his name was he said Cxxt - the other kids said that’s what his father called him - eventually the headmistress caught up with the father and registered him - he actually had a lovely name which he didn’t know - he had no idea when his birthday was - just used to whip his Willy out and pee - absolutely feral - but after he settled down he loved drawing and being read to - he would disappear for days then turn up obviously had a beating - once had a cigarette burn on his forehead - OT worked really hard and found some of his mothers family who were more than willing to take him - the father fought it - anyway he moved away and had been living with his Aunty and cousins - the headmistress checked on him was absolutely thriving .Four weeks ago the father went to court and under the new law Kelvin Davis was so proud of was given custody as the parents have priority as long as he had a fixed abode which was temporary housing in Hamilton - he wasn’t interested in his son just the benefit - this precious 8 year old boy was bludgeoned to death in his bed the first night back with his father - the foster family have lodged a complaint with the police complaints authority with the backing of the local police - but they are only following the law - it’s bad enough children being killed but this is the fourth one since the law change that has been returned to a violent home .I know Jacinda is now living in America but I wonder if she imagined that little boy who no doubt was traumatised ending back with his father -unlike a baby he was old enough to understand what was happening - every MP should be backing the proposed law change - just because a child has your blood doesn’t earn you the right to automatically be the parent - the foster family wished they had given him the money he was going to collect from Winz - shouldn’t be happening .The politics in the US are disturbing but there are many things here that has me shaking my head - Robie is a Māori so his school children get free visits to the GP the solo Mum checkout operator who happens to be a pakeha has to pay $64 for her college student son -thank goodness Reti put a stop to that - that’s not what Kiwis want .There are even people still claiming that school lunches are going to be stopped - the previous govt only funded lunches for one third of the schools - some of the contracts like to the school I am involved with obviously involved backhanders cost $20 a meal - the kids  from the nearby EIT are now making the  lunches using all the donated food available for $1.50 per meal - the new govt have never proposed cutting free lunches but instead will be feeding all the kids using the Kids Can system - the taxpayers were paying full retail for one third of the kids - can’t understand why anybody wouldn’t support a scheme that will even feed preschoolers - kids should come before political ideology .The proposed dropping of the costs for retired teachers to help out you think would be welcomed but the teachers union would rather kids were sent home - just crazy .There are so many kids turning up at the supermarket looking who can’t read or write - unless the yoghurt has a picture of the fruit on it - they have no idea - going for a walk

(17-09-2024, 12:05 PM)Lilith7 Wrote:

(16-09-2024, 03:16 PM)Jan Wrote: Have been in a dark hole but the supposed assassination attempt deserves comment - wonder who paid for that to happen - the red necks will be impressed -Kamala is doing so well Trump will try anything
My grandson who has been very worried about me sent me this - thought it might appeal on here - gave me a giggle
https://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/2153498740.jpg
A couple of years ago a boy turned up at breakfast club just tagged along with the rest of the kids from one of the motels - when asked what his name was he said Cxxt - the other kids said that’s what his father called him - eventually the headmistress caught up with the father and registered him - he actually had a lovely name which he didn’t know - he had no idea when his birthday was - just used to whip his Willy out and pee - absolutely feral - but after he settled down he loved drawing and being read to - he would disappear for days then turn up obviously had a beating - once had a cigarette burn on his forehead - OT worked really hard and found some of his mothers family who were more than willing to take him - the father fought it - anyway he moved away and had been living with his Aunty and cousins - the headmistress checked on him was absolutely thriving .Four weeks ago the father went to court and under the new law Kelvin Davis was so proud of was given custody as the parents have priority as long as he had a fixed abode which was temporary housing in Hamilton - he wasn’t interested in his son just the benefit - this precious 8 year old boy was bludgeoned to death in his bed the first night back with his father - the foster family have lodged a complaint with the police complaints authority with the backing of the local police - but they are only following the law - it’s bad enough children being killed but this is the fourth one since the law change that has been returned to a violent home .I know Jacinda is now living in America but I wonder if she imagined that little boy who no doubt was traumatised ending back with his father -unlike a baby he was old enough to understand what was happening - every MP should be backing the proposed law change - just because a child has your blood doesn’t earn you the right to automatically be the parent - the foster family wished they had given him the money he was going to collect from Winz - shouldn’t be happening .The politics in the US are disturbing but there are many things here that has me shaking my head - Robie is a Māori so his school children get free visits to the GP the solo Mum checkout operator who happens to be a pakeha has to pay $64 for her college student son -thank goodness Reti put a stop to that - that’s not what Kiwis want .There are even people still claiming that school lunches are going to be stopped - the previous govt only funded lunches for one third of the schools - some of the contracts like to the school I am involved with obviously involved backhanders cost $20 a meal - the kids  from the nearby EIT are now making the  lunches using all the donated food available for $1.50 per meal - the new govt have never proposed cutting free lunches but instead will be feeding all the kids using the Kids Can system - the taxpayers were paying full retail for one third of the kids - can’t understand why anybody wouldn’t support a scheme that will even feed preschoolers - kids should come before political ideology .The proposed dropping of the costs for retired teachers to help out you think would be welcomed but the teachers union would rather kids were sent home - just crazy .There are so many kids turning up at the supermarket looking who can’t read or write - unless the yoghurt has a picture of the fruit on it - they have no idea - going for a walk

Hope you're doing OK, Jan & feeling at least a bit better. The world can look extremely bleak sometimes I know, but I've found that it helps to remember that all over the world there are people doing small good things all the time, which we seldom hear about.

(18-09-2024, 03:27 PM)Oh_hunnihunni Wrote: Some folk should never be parents. There should be a one strike and you are out law with child abuse, but then I remember a friend years ago, who was falsely accused of child abuse by his wife as part of the divorce proceedings. He told us he couldn't prove her wrong, even if the kids stood up for him he was ruined and destroyed by the smearing. He killed himself.

One of my daughters friends used to show up at our place every chance she got, and stay. I never cottoned on till much much later, when after we left to come back to Auckland we heard she had hung herslf in the family garage, leaving a note laying out the details of the long history of family sexual abuse she had endured. She was such a beautiful young woman, and I felt such guilt at never realising how wrong her life was, how hurt she was. How safe she felt in our all female family home.

We do not know the stories behind the faces we meet, the conversations we have. It pays to be kind, it might just be that little thing that helps someone else survive unspoken horrors.