Peter Ruthven and son Harley, aged 9, took a "Dad Sunday" at Auckland's Silo Park while Harley's teachers were on strike. Photo / Doug Sherring
Peter Ruthven and son Harley, aged 9, took a "Dad Sunday" at Auckland's Silo Park while Harley's teachers were on strike. Photo / Doug Sherring
Most parents are still backing today's primary teachers' strike, judging by those who took a day off work and took their children out to Auckland's Silo Park.
The waterfront park was a popular choice for both parents and their children, who enjoyed a day off school and what Herne Bay father Peter Ruthven called an extra "Dad Sunday".
Ruthven took a day out from his online e-commerce business to take son Harley, 9, for his first ride on a Lime e-scooter.
"First we went to Dad's work for about an hour," said Harley, a student at Bayfield Primary School.
"Then we went to Mission Bay and went out on a Lime scooter. Then we went to Sylvia Park, then we came down here [to Silo Park] and went on a Lime scooter round the Viaduct."
Ruthven said the family had planned for Harley's grandmother to look after him on strike day but that plan fell through so Ruthven took the day off.
"It cost me, it's less productivity," he said. But he supported the teachers' protest.
"Especially in Auckland, it's the high living costs here," he said. "There needs to be a realistic opportunity for the people coming up to want to be teachers."
All except one of the parents who spoke to the Herald at the park were still backing the teachers - although information technology worker Cliff Bateman said "it might be time to get back and continue mediation".
"It was very interesting that the mediator said you're being a little bit unreasonable but this isn't just about the money, so I get it," he said.
Cliff Bateman, pictured with his children Violet and James, said it might be time for the teachers to get back into mediation. Photo / Doug Sherring
Bateman said he had "a tolerant employer" who let him take a day off to look after his son James, 11, and daughter, Violet, 6, both students at Balmoral School.
James said they started the day with some "device time" before they came down to the waterfront.
"We got a gigantic ice cream," he said.
Violet added: "We got a fizzy drink, we got a sushi, we went to the playground and we played hide and seek."
Police officer Reuben Jakich said the police were "really good" about giving him a day off to look after his children aged 13 and 10, and he was looking after two of the children's friends as well.
"We parked by the Harbour Bridge, we walked along to the Tepid Baths and had a swim, had lunch at the Britomart and came back along here," he said.
As for the teachers, he said: "I've got no problem if they want to strike - I wouldn't want to look after 30 kids every day!"
A mother from Mt Albert who was at the park with her 7-year-old daughter said she and her husband, an academic, took half a day off each.
"I'm for the strike," she said. "I think the teachers should be paid better, so if they need to strike to do it, I'm for it."
The only dissenting voice was a father from the North Shore, a property lawyer who said he was processing property settlements and even transferring money on his phone while he watched his two children play.
"If it's about collective rights, I'm actually against it," he said.
"If they are not in a position to bargain individually, then it [striking] is the only way, so from that perspective I can support that, but still I'm a capitalist. I want it to work in a natural way."
