antipodean

Early-rising New Zealander here (it's 5am folks!).

Bullet points for starters:

1. We are genuinely relaxed people, life is good, weather not too hot or too cold, food easy to get or grow, housing not horribly expensive, healthcare obtainable for all, education as close to free as we can make it and an overall low crime and corruption rate. So the majority of us go to sleep at night, overall, not worried about losing our livelihood one day to the next or not having enough to eat. Similar in this respect to the Northern Europeans.

2. Tall poppy syndrome. We don't like people standing out from the crowd in terms of personality, flamboyance, income - to fit in, you maintain a level of 'bloke/girl next door'. Even if you have tons of money or you are flamboyantly dressy. If not, cue media outcry and attacks, so you move overseas where you can disappear among the masses.

3. Geography! You have no idea how expensive it can be to live here. We work hard to export all our fine goods to you and work harder to import the things we love.

4. The knowledge economy We are messing up here. Internet is too expensive, kids are not getting properly schooled in computing skills and we don't place a high enough value on STEM. If the government really really focused on STEM the next 10 years our next gen kids could have incredible lives, where distance is no barrier thanks to internet access and quality of life is incredible (those mountains, sheep and rivers/lakes are totally as amazing as you see in the photos).

Many schools still won't let kids play Bullrush or play in the dirt. This is a low decile school so it seems particularly awesome for the kids to get some exercise as many parents can't afford after school programs.

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/26271/bullrush-2009

Not in this case:

http://www.3news.co.nz/New-Zealand-again-least-corrupt-natio...

But I will say that New Zealand has a perceived problem currently as a somewhat 'nanny state'. Definitely a million kinds of by-laws but we try to resolve our differences with fairness in mind. Generally I describe New Zealand as a 'fair' country, as in, let's figure out what's fair for all involved.

Edit: a flying-fox is what we call in NZ and Australia a 'zip line' I believe. Still find them in New Zealand across the country in public parks but not any, I believe, schools these days. How else do you get kids to run up 3 flights of stairs 20 times during lunch?

Teaching rigorous safety consciousness in children

Yes, watching the video reminded me that no-one taught me how to tackle when I was playing Rugby as a skinny 11 year old. Good to see the kids at the school have someone to help them avoid those common injuries and still get some decent play in.

If you'd watched the video, here's a paraphrase:

"We watch the kids play, then we talk and they decide on the rules. They respect the rules better then".

Adult supervision at schools is pretty common, even in the deep South Pacific.

I don't know why you are being downvoted. Humans are physical creatures as much as thinkers, and not letting kids find physical limits is going to have severe effects on their ability to think and take creative risks with their minds.

I grew up in New Zealand in the 80s. Bullrush, 3-story high flying foxes on school property, huge trees, open farmland, unsupervised cross-country runs: no adults around were par for the course except if someone broke a bone (which I remember happening in my community twice in 10 years) and we managed ourselves. We like to think we're a good outdoor lot of people and many of us adults have been horrified to think our kids can't grow up like we did.

What I saw in this video was like looking back 30 years and it made me happy. You're underestimating our kids to think we can't let them loose for a good game of bullrush and they are more aware that they are being watched than actually just playing the rules of the game. Also remember that Rugby is New Zealand's national sport and these kids grow up watching it and knowing the rules. I'd bet some of those kids end up in the All Blacks.