Problems for Children

Te Ao Hou, December 1963, Page 13

Problems for Children For children however, it poses problems. The urban dwelling child seeks his amusements in rather restricted areas and is subject to hazards which the suburbanite knows nothing about. In my experience the Maori children of the inner city were frequently insecure in their feelings towards both home and outside environments. The older children would frequently talk nostalgically of their life in the country but did not really want to return. Many had a sense of being powerless to alter their social condition. The conflict for these children lay between the freedom they would have liked and the business of having to earn a living which was soon to be thrust upon them. Remember however, that I am speaking of adolescents and that it is fairly typical of children at this stage to have contradictory wants. On the other hand, the Maori children who were the residents of the longest standing felt superior to, or more sophisticated than, the newer immigrants. They had learned, or thought they had learned, the culture of the city. But many did so from the underside, from the importunings of old men, from what they heard and saw in the parks and streets, from what they heard from other children, and too frequently, from the disregard of their parents. If some fell into unlawful activities it was only surprising that they had not done so earlier. With restricted English, a low-literacy household, and differently geared expectations from his suburban counterpart, he may look like and be an underprivileged child. However there is so far nothing permanent about his urban status; each year a number of Maori families overflow from the reservoir areas to the suburbs, so that while some remain urban dwellers many move out, thus facing a further adjustment.