Yesterday I went along with the Prime Minister to the ‘Still Got a Brain’ parents group, as reported in the Dominion Post this morning (though not on-line it appears).  This is a group started by mothers and ex Beehive staffers Belinda Ware and Rachel Dahlberg to give at home parents a chance to meet and discuss issues and hear speakers.

It is, as you can imagine with dozens of under 5s, a delightfully choatic scene at the Southern Cross Hotel.  Mums and Dads, kids, toys, and lunchboxes, compete for space with coffees, and on this occassion the PM and me.  The innate ability of parents to multi-task was never more evident as they dealt with broken toys and thirsty toddlers, while clearly taking in all that the PM had to say.

The PM outlined her plans for a future with Labour, and then went through policies for families using a ‘life-cycle’ approach. I thought it was a very effective approach discussing everything from 20 hours free childcare, to B4 School checks to Schools Plus and Working for Families and on to Kiwisaver.  She also dwelt on the importance of strong environmental policies, not only for the health of our country and the planet, but also for the good of our economy.

The questions showed the group’s name is most definitely spot on, as parents raised a number of issues including childcare, cost of education and environmental issues. The latter were certainly a hot topic when I was talking to the parents afterwards.  There was a lot of focus on the Emissions Trading Scheme, which is good, but of course that is only one aspect of improving our environmental performance, and becoming a truly sustainable nation.

All in all a very enjoyable morning.  I know a number of the parents in the group from university and working life, and they are all doing a terrific job with their kids.  As the meeting wound up, the press gallery had arrived to dissect the latest twists in the Peters donations saga.   Most of the parents headed off to carry on the very full time job of looking after our next generations.  In some ways its a pity the press gallery folk  did not stop in to listen to the kinds of questions that were being asked, they might have found it very instructive.