New Zealand used to be known as a great place to bring up your children. It still is.
However, I wish we could be as complimentary about the standard of our parenting.

Sadly, we have some of the worst ‘parents' in the world living right here in NZ. You watch their ugly stories unfold on the television or read about them in the newspapers.

Some of the national abuse figures are quite staggering and doesn't make for pleasant reading.

Teenagers, in particular, should be discouraged from having children.

I believe most of the problems come from here or here-abouts.

A 16-year-old doesn't even know what they need, let alone what a baby needs.

As a taxpayer, I'm helping to sponsor the continued breeding of children into poorer families, if that's what we can call them.

And it brasses me off, quite frankly. Let's do something to try and prevent the problem rather than continually picking up the pieces at the bottom of the cliff.

Yeah, I know. It's a toughie.

But someone's got to do something, surely?

Otherwise, all we're creating is trouble. And we're all in it.

Graeme Martin, Otumoetai.