There's a lot of talk of ‘children living in poverty' these days.

And it's interesting to read and hear how we choose to understand poverty. And we're all different.

As someone who has been fortunate to see a bit of the planet, I can tell you we don't actually have real poverty in New Zealand.

We create ‘relative poverty' by how we think and act. Living life is always about choice.

Having children is a blessing. Especially when they're planned and you can afford them.

And as most parents will tell you, children are some of the most expensive things there are.

Having children when you have no way of looking after them or offering them the chances in life they deserve, is what I call, creating relative poverty.

Initially poverty of choice, followed by poverty of parenting know-how and skills, then poverty of opportunity and poverty of just about everything else thereafter!

Not only do these people create their own poverty by their own poor decision-making, but worse still, they lock their children into the same downward spiral.

As I said, NZ poverty is not to be confused with real poverty, in places like India or the Philippines or Indonesia or any one of 100 other countries I could name.

Can we solve relative poverty in NZ? Yes. How? By making better decisions when we are young (come in parents), and by not being serially stupid, foolish or dumb.

Created poverty, as we know it in this country, started in the early 1970s and is now beginning its third generation.

We need to change the mind set of people who choose poverty as a lifestyle. It doesn't work, for the individual, for the family, for the communitity or for the nation.

The NZ taxpayer has sponsored ‘chosen poverty' not only in this country, but also in many others; and seriously folks, it has to stop.

Otherwise we'll all be ‘down the swanny' without a paddle, and there'll be no getting back.

It can be done. If there's a will. Is there a will?

G Martin, Otumoetai.