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• Pregnant Binge Drinker Faces No Criminal Charges

  If there’s anything sadder than domestic violence, it’s domestic violence involving a pregnant woman and an insane quantity of booze. Last week, New Zealand police, responding to a 4 a.m. domestic violence complaint, found a heavily intoxicated woman whose partner had hit her over the head with a bottle. She was nine months pregnant, and had been drinking with her partner for eight hours straight. The man was imprisoned on assault charges, but police were uncertain about how to deal with the mother-to-be. Read More... Posted Jul 08 2008, 05:45 PM by Hannah Tennant-Moore with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: jail, drinking while pregnant, fetal alcohol syndrome, domestic violence, new zealand, pregnant women, substance abuse, binge drinking, legislating pregnancies, maternal substance abuse, addicted mothers, against the law

• Healthy Eating Leads Children to Porn

  We try to do the best for our best for our kids. Make them brush their teeth, look both ways before crossing the street. But are we trying too hard to protect our kids? Could these well intentioned acts actually have a negative effect? Perhaps, as some parents are learning encouraging their children to eat healthy is leading the kids to pornography. To be specific, it leads them to, and I quote, “Hot Gay Bareback” porn… Read More... Posted Jun 04 2008, 09:30 AM by Cole Gamble with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: kids, health, gay, porn, new zealand, naughty, xxx, hard core

• Woman Dangles Baby Outside Moving Car

  Generally speaking, despite what some of the commenters on my recent Suri Cruise post might say, I try to be non-judgmental about other people's parenting choices. But I can't be impartial about this woman in New Zealand, who dangled her one-year-old baby outside the window of a moving car for no apparent reason. I mean, that's just stone-cold, straight-up stupid. Read More... Posted May 20 2008, 08:02 AM by Jen Chaney with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: crime, michael jackson, new zealand, vehicle safety, dangling baby

• Happy Birthday kids. Have some carrots.

  Megan Bowden of the Oteha Valley primary school has issued a decree: no more cake. With a large number of kids having birthdays in September and October, every day was a birthday cake day, and that's just too damn much cake! Read More... Posted Apr 07 2008, 01:00 PM by Brett Singer with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: school, birthdays, principal, new zealand, cake, elementary school, snacks, rules, birthday cake, treats, ministry of education

• Kiwi Parents Pull Off Super Victory Against Government

  Pat and Sheena Wheaton have at least one quality that will make them great parents: consistency. When they were shot down by the New Zealand naming registrar, they persevered, because only one name was going to suit Baby Boy Wheaton, and that name was 4Real. Two months of sticking-to-their-guns later, the Wheatons have finally reached a compromise. For legal intents and purposes, the child's name will be Superman Wheaton. Somewhere, Nicolas Cage is kicking himself for not going big.   Read More... Posted Aug 09 2007, 02:59 PM by Patti with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: baby names, new zealand, 4real wheaton, superman wheaton, pat and sheena wheaton

• New Zealanders Fight to Name Baby "4Real." For Real.

  New Zealand parents Pat and Sheena Wheaton chose a name for their baby that symbolized their feelings about becoming parents, a name whose meaning would be instantly understood by outsiders. A name that the New Zealand government is disallowing, because it happens to start with a number instead of a letter. Little 4Real Wheaton may not go down on the books as such, due to a Kiwi regulation that allows unusual names to be open to government scrutiny and approval. Names like Satan and Adolph Hitler have been vetoed by the registry of births on grounds that they are offensive, and numerical names appear to simply be non-starters. But don't worry about Baby Boy Wheaton. If the state denies his parents the use of their chosen name, he'll just have to settle for being Real. Kinda makes Metallica sound like Emily, doesn't it? Posted Jun 23 2007, 12:15 PM by Patti with | with no comments Filed under: baby names, new zealand

• Schoolgirl Scientists Uncover Pharma Company's False Claims

  Let's hear it for fourteen-year-old New Zealand girls Jenny Suo and Anna Devathasan, whose innocent 2004 science fair project led to huge fines being levied against pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline. The girls tested the vitamin C content of several brands of juice, and most of them turned out to contain more of the nutrient than the packaging indicated. But GlaxoSmithKline's Ribena, which is marketed as containing four times the vitamin C of orange juice, had no detectable level of the vitamin. The girls tested it several times and still came up with nothing. New Zealand's Commerce Commission launched an investigation which culminated in a smackdown for the world's second largest drug company, which is responsible for paying fines of $156,000 USD for having made false claims regarding its product. Jenny and Anna appeared in court for part of the trial, but were too busy at school to attend the sentencing portion. They're enjoying their celebrity, though: "It's incredible to think you can have this sort of impact as a consumer and as a kid." It's inspirational, too.    Posted Mar 28 2007, 03:14 PM by Patti with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: education, teenagers, science, new zealand