Did you know that over 1 in 4 Kiwi kids lives in poverty? That’s 270,000 children. Enough to fill our biggest rugby stadium five and a half times.
But what does living in poverty mean in New Zealand? It means that 1 in 5 kiwi households with school age kids do not have enough food to feed their families
That too many of our kids go to school without eating breakfast, or are growing up without the fresh fruit and vegetables they need.
This is bad for our kids, being hungry at school affects our children’s ability to learn.
Poor nutrition in childhood is also linked to developmental delays, more frequent illnesses and obesity
It doesn’t have to be this way. If New Zealand supports breakfast and lunch clubs in schools we can make sure no Kiwi kids go hungry.
Programmes like these have been shown to promote a healthy diet, and to improve children’s school attendance, behaviour, and ability to learn. Breakfast clubs also provide a safe, early morning place to increase social skills and confidence, creating a better school environment.
It’s time we got our act together and supported our schools, communities and businesses to turn all Kiwi kids into healthy, well educated adults. These could be the doctors and nurses we need to look after our aging population. Our scientists, artists, entrepreneurs. Our future all blacks and silver ferns.
In the end, it’s not just hungry kids that benefit, but all New Zealanders.
- Credits:
Written & voiced by Siouxsie Wiles.
Recorded by Neil Morrison.
Commissioned by Jilly Evans.
Animated by http://MohawkMedia.co.nz
- Published under Creative Commons – BY-NC-SA (Attribution – Non Commercial – Share Alike) License.
This is the second in a series of animations launched at the workshop ‘Investing In Our Nation’s Kids Solutions to Child Poverty in New Zealand’ (http://tinyurl.com/cy9rlpo) in March 2013. The statistics and recommendations are drawn from the report to the Children’s Commissioner on Solutions to Child Poverty in New Zealand: http://www.occ.org.nz/publications/ch…
