jmh

When my forms were delivered she said that if I did it online she wouldn't have to come back and collect them. I imagined that they had some way of telling.

Bo-Jangles

It's called 'Whangai' and is quite normal in Maori culture and basically is adoption by extended family, either short-term but often permanently. The real identity and roles of Mum, Dad, Auntie and Granny can be very vague.

Clappy

They are all 'aunties'.

The extended family model is different to the nuclear family model that us westerners think is normal, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't work.

Jaydi

Nice lady delivered mine and said she would be back within a couple of weeks to collect. Just been reading the guide notes and it says they will be collected sometime between 6 and 17 March if you haven't completed online.

Jaydi

I thought the babies question was very intrusive and objected to answering. Same with the religion question. To my mind, the very fact that they gave you the option of objecting to answer means they also thought these questions were intrusive..

BEVS

Ah ! I remember hearing this whilst in Samoa itself decades ago. Tiz how it is.

Makes sense then ,to word the question carefully .

Persephone

Still not sure of the relevance of the question though or am I missing something?.

I can understand the need to know how many children are in a specific area in terms of planning future education and healthcare. BUT it asks nothing about where the children actually are, whether they have grown up and left home or even whether they are still alive. So even when it is combined with the ethnicity stats, what does it actually tell us and of what use is it? I would be interested to know as I'm at a bit of a loss really!

BEVS

Yup. Am still puzzling it too.
As someone who hasn't managed to have a child in this world & lifetime, it was a very personal question.

I've had a google and found this.

Persephone

The question has the potential to upset and intrude upon all women whether childless by choice or not and has no real use that I can see. At least there is the choice not to answer it.

I read the link, maybe it would be better to word it as something like 'how many children live in your house'? Would many parents who had lost a child feel like the census question meant they had to 'ignore' their lost child or would most be realistic about the fact it is a census and it is about providing services for the future? Hope that doesn't sound harsh.

It also mentions that the question is to do with assessing fertility rates - it does not really answer that either as increasing numbers choose not to have a child.

BEVS

Found this. So it is to do with assessing fertility rates

lisamct

I know it must be hard for parents of stillborn/miscarried children to not be able to record them on the census but, surely the point of the census is to allow planning for future public service funding based around the habits of the present population.
I know that he act of only documenting living children will seem somehow 'disrespectful' to the memory of those lost and I fully agree that these childrens lives should be recorded somewhere but I don't think the census is the place to do that.

jmh

Fertility rates not only enable future planning but can be an indicator of changes in poverty, diet and environment at a population level. It is relevant data I guess, but the issue is around sensitivity.

cappuccino

How does the fact that I have children, but they don't live in NZ and wont be requiring any services in the future, help planning?

BEVS

Funnily enough early UK 20th century census' did record this. Total children born alive. Total children living. Total children died. This leaves the cross-refs for children alive but not with the home address on the date of the census.

It states it is about fertility rates. So, men should maybe have answered the same question. Also, if collating on fertility + health then stillbirth is part of this.

jmh

It is recorded:

(from link above)