Trends in Family Life

I decided that I would write this blog to discuss the downward trend in the quality of family life in New Zealand, and to talk about ways to reverse this trend. The future for my grown up children and my grandchildren will be totally different from the privileged place I find myself in at 62 years of age. New Zealand has been good to my generation, however I sense that what is about to come will not be as good. I want to discuss what I observe and gain your response. I will share ideas that have been in my head for many years as a father, an employer and as a relationship counsellor with over 13,000 hours of clinical experience. I will share some tools that I have used over the years with clients to help them repair their relationships because I think some of these tools would help society in general. With 2011 around the corner we need a new direction that remedies some of New Zealand's chronic symptoms - excess alcohol and drug use; child abuse; marriage breakdown; the tall poppy syndrome; the welfare system and mindset; education mood swings; lack of empathy; the importance of our children's first 5 years of life and why all my friends have gone to live in Australia.