Christmas spirit lies beyond receiving presents
MY CHILDREN are on countdown. The Advent calendars are being opened and the contents devoured every morning, and by the time this column hits the press there will be a mere two sleeps to go.
Part of the excitement I hope is about the celebration – the fact that school and work will be put to the side, and the family will be together, sharing food and good times.
However, I am acutely aware that much of the anticipation is around the gifts – both the ones they will give (often delightfully handmade, and carefully hidden away for weeks before the big day), and possibly more importantly the ones they will receive.
The letters for Father Christmas include requests for a kitten, an iPhone, and ‘‘a surprise’’.
At least he will have an easier job than the year they requested a real unicorn and a live snowman.
I don’t think my gorgeous children are any more or less focused on the gifts than the majority of their classmates.
But the emphasis on the receiving of presents, especially large expensive ones, does make me wonder what it is all about.
This month, the Office of the Children’s Commissioner released its annual child poverty monitor report for 2014.
This report, published jointly with Otago University’s New Zealand Child and Youth Epidemiology Services, and the J R McKenzie Trust, provides data on a set of indicators that assess aspects of child poverty in New Zealand, and their implications for child wellbeing. Children make up about a quarter of our population, numbering about 1 million. Of that 1 million, 73 per cent are New Zealand European, 24 per cent Maori, 12 per cent Pasifika, and 9 per cent are Asian.
The statistics for these children make sobering reading: Almost 25 per cent are classified as living in poverty (compared with 11 per cent in 1986). 10 per cent are living in severe poverty. Pacific children are most likely to be living in poverty, followed by Maori – this is not related to ethnicity but is due to an increased exposure to multiple risk factors including low income, benefit dependency and poor housing. About 180,000 children regularly go without things they need – this includes waterproof coats, fresh fruit and vegetables, shoes, heating, medication and healthcare. This level of poverty can bring far-reaching consequences.
We know that children from these households have poorer health.
They are three times as likely to end up being admitted to hospital, and rates of sudden unexplained death in an infant are five times higher than in less deprived families.
Overcrowding and poor heating/insulation of homes leads to higher rates of meningococcal infection and rheumatic fever.
We also know that breaking the cycle of poverty is often impossible.
Many children who grow up in these households will live in poverty for many years.
They are more likely to leave school without any skills or qualifications, and as adults are more likely to be reliant on welfare, to be homeless or unemployed.
This report makes difficult reading. Especially at a time of year when our shops are full of tantalising expensive gifts, that will probably end up unwanted, broken or discarded by next Christmas.
I am not claiming to have any answers to this at all.
But I hope that we can all spare a thought this festive season for the children who won’t be waking up to bulging stockings hanging at the bottom of the bed, or sitting down to a table laden with gourmet treats.
Each year our local school has taken part in the ‘‘Pack the Bus’’ project – in the leadup to Christmas, a bus travels around schools and supermarkets collecting goods and gifts for families in need.
Last year the project enabled the City Mission in Wellington to deliver about 1200 food parcels and 5900 new toys and gifts to families.
This project, and many others like it around the country, enables us all to do something simple, to give something small back to those less well off than ourselves.
I am a big fan of this – not least because it shows our children the real meaning of giving at Christmas.
This year, my three children are going to be helping out at the mission – packing up food parcels, or whatever else is needed to enable other families to enjoy this time of year as much as we do.
It certainly won’t fix the world but I would like to think they will grow up with a sense of how very fortunate they are, and how giving back is actually often so much more rewarding than receiving.
Cathy Stephenson is a GP and medical forensic examiner.