The Checking the Family Pulse poll ran during August 2007 and asked Couch members to tell us what’s important for their family at the moment and if there are any issues we haven’t yet considered. We also wanted to know what topics Couch members would like to talk about with each other.
Thanks to the 360 Couch members who completed this poll on what’s important for their family right now. Responses to the poll covered almost every topic relevant to families, from pregnancy to care for older family members.
Many of the topics are perennial ones for families. These topics have come up in earlier Couch polls. People repeated their concerns about:
Other concerns included: safety from violence and crime; values and traditions; the influence of media; supporting adult children; family structures; perceived government interference in family life.
The situation of many families does not seem to be improving. People talked about coping with increasing financial demands and extreme financial stress.
Money!! Mortgage rates are increasing, prices of food, electricity, petrol, insurance, childcare, clothing is (sic) increasing and our salaries remain the same.
Questions members wanted to put to each other included:
Do you feel financially disadvantaged as a one-income family? Eg, unable to pay off student loan, behind in career, highly taxed single income?
How do they make ends meet on a tight budget? Seems to me that most families with young children struggle if mum is at home.
If people are finding it harder and harder financially as middle income people, are we going to wear ourselves out?
Once again members talked about how they found it difficult to balance time spent at work and time spent at home.
Spending quality time with each other AND having adequate finances to do this.
Keeping our family in touch with whānau even though we are really busy.
There was also a dilemma around staying at home with children versus going back to work. Most members who commented on this were unhappy with the range of options available. Many of them (especially mothers) said they wanted to stay home with their children, but couldn’t afford to. Some felt undervalued as parents because they felt government offered them very little support, financial or otherwise.
I wanted to drop down to part-time work when our second child was born, but instead I had to return to full-time work after she was eight weeks old. The government ‘paid maternity leave’ was too small an amount to replace my normal salary and we ran out of savings.
Not surprisingly, issues around balancing work and family life, money, and time were frequently mentioned by single parents. These parents were often in complex situations where money and time constraints were made worse by other problems such as issues with the Courts, CYF, child support payments, lack of support from the other parent, and social isolation.
Trying to keep a safe and well-maintained roof over my children’s heads but still being at home before and after school for them. As a single parent I am trying to keep my children happy and healthy. As their father is out of the country and offers no financial or other support it is very stressful at times especially with a pre-teen son.
Just under a fifth of respondents were concerned about parenting issues, such as child discipline and guidance, with most focusing on trying to bring-up well-adjusted children. Half of those who raised parenting talked about the challenges of bringing up teenagers. Many said they lacked the skills to deal with them and didn’t know where to turn for support.
Some mentioned the importance of adults, particularly parents, acting as good role models. The repeal of section 59 of the Crimes Act was mentioned by a number of members with most opposing the new law. A couple of people were in favour of it and some were just confused about what the new law meant for families.
Ensuring the whole family is happy and safe and have clear picture of how to create their future success and happiness. This begins with the parents leading by example.
Some issues raised by Couch members which hadn’t come up before included:
Concerns about the general lack of emphasis on morals, values, and traditions in today’s society. A number of Couch members wanted to see an increase in moral standards. Some members talked about the importance of connection with whānau.
The general happiness and wellbeing of Couch members’ families was important, with over fifteen percent simply wanting their family to be “happy”. They emphasised the value of caring for, and communicating with, one another.
Around five percent were unhappy about what is perceived as government interference in family life and felt they had little say in what was happening to them.
Members wanted to know about the choices of schools people make for their children and why they make them, and how involved people are in their children’s education. They also wanted to know what others thought about the education system, about bullying and about early childhood education (eg access).
Twenty-four Couch members wanted to know more about other peoples’ experiences and thoughts on the health system and the support they received for various conditions such as cancer, mental illness, and developmental or physical disabilities.
How do we ensure there is reasonable access to NZ’s health system?
Healthcare and the cost. Sadly I do have to pay for my under six to go to the doctor, and it does make me think twice about taking him.
Members also wanted to know how people respond and cope in times of crisis, especially with family violence. Where do they access support? Is there any support? Some wanted to know about Couch members’ experience of crime and violence in the community.
I think I would ask Couch members about whether they have witnessed or experienced family violence, did they know who to contact, do they know what a protection order is and how long it lasts, do they know what domestic violence actually is?
The influence of mass media, and environmental factors such as genetic modification and global warming, also came up. Ten Couch members wanted to know how other families cope with the changing world.
The effects of TV and playstations on children’s health, intellect and propensity to violence.
Global warming/environmental sustainability – this influences our lives from climate change and the commercial survival of our town, to eating locally, petrol affordability. It is about responsibility of our generation to teach the next generation to survive and counter the degradation.
A few wanted to know more about how people make and keep a social life when family demands are high (eg making and maintaining friends, meeting a new partner).
The full list of topics raised and proposed questions appear in the following tables.
| Themes from question 1 – what is most important for your family right now? | Number of responses (n = 703) |
| Money | 116 |
| Budget difficulties, low incomes, mortgage pressure, housing affordability, challenge of saving | |
| Time | 85 |
| Spending time as a family, being with one another, staying connected, holidaying | |
| Education | 73 |
| Choosing schools; NCEA; bullying; access, cost and quality of childcare for school children; early childhood education | |
| Work-life balance | 70 |
| Limited choices when returning to work with young children or returning too soon; need for two family incomes; inflexible work arrangements; pressures | |
| Health | 56 |
| General comments about health and the health system; physical and/or developmental disabilities; mental illness | |
| Parenting | 57 |
| Including discipline, being a role model, and raising teenagers (sex, drugs, STI, pregnancy) | |
| Care and concern | 54 |
| Valuing one another, communication, being happy | |
| Safety | 36 |
| Protection from crime in neighbourhood or society; experiences of family violence – sexual/physical abuse | |
| Family structure | 26 |
| Single families, ‘traditional’ families | |
| Other topics | 127 |
| Supporting adult children (22); maintaining morals and values (15); perceived government interference in family life (15); multi-media eg cell phones, TV, internet (13); retirement; fertility and family planning; diet/food safety; religion; infrastructure eg public transport, roading; extended family; strengthening or preserving marriages; environment; geographical isolation |
| Themes from question 2 – if you could choose one topic, what would you ask Couch members about? | Number of Responses (n = 439) |
| Parenting | 123 |
| How to find support, particularly with discipline. Coping with teenagers. Follow-up after the amendment of Section 59 of the Crimes Act. | |
| Education | 43 |
| Choices/options for schooling; childcare; bullying and protection from negative influences | |
| Work-life balance | 42 |
| Coping with work and family commitments; arrangements for parental leave and carer support | |
| Family relationships | 42 |
| General questions; marriage/partner relationships; how to stay in touch with each other | |
| Perceived government interference | 42 |
| Explore perception around laws and policies, politics, Child Youth and Family and courts inappropriately imposing on families | |
| Money | 40 |
| How do families cope with money, budgeting and finances? | |
| Time | 26 |
| How do families spend their time together? Do families have time for community involvement? | |
| Health | 24 |
| Costs and barriers to access. Topics about everything from dental to mental health. | |
| Family values, morals and traditions | 21 |
| General questions. How do people promote intergenerational transmission of values and whānau? | |
| Other topics | 78 |
| Single/blended families; multi-media influences; coping with a changing world; family crisis – how do families cope? options? safeguards?; grandparents raising grandchildren; environment and food safety; safety from crime and violence; retirement and elder care; maintaining friendships; children’s perspectives – what’s important to them?; supporting adult children; religion and faith. |
Conclusion
The information shared through this poll has been reported to our staff and Commissioners. There are some very clear trends that will feed into the areas we speak out on.
We now have a list of topics under consideration for new polls. Some of the questions members wanted answered have already been the subject of other polls, but there are some new areas we hadn’t considered before. Rather than running polls to explore some of the topics suggested, they may be better suited to members exchanging ideas and experiences. We are looking at setting up monthly dialogues on our main website. These forums will be the opportunity for discussion. As soon as this new feature is operational we’ll let Couch members know.
We have several initiatives already underway that address issues raised in this poll. These include:
