Police nabbed a couple of boys who crumpled the panel work of five cars at a Whangarei car park last week. We immediately ask "How can these kids do something so bad? And "Where were their parents when all this was going on?"
A certain farmer would have asked these same questions when a similar incident of appalling behaviour occurred 55 years ago, involving a group of young sprouts - me being one of them - destroying a haystack. It's true. There we were - a group of us climbing a huge pine tree under which the hay was sheltered. Numerous times during the course of a sunny afternoon, we climbed the tree and jumped down on to the haystack, not giving a thought to the precious store of winter feed being demolished in the process.
Unlike the two boys who were captured on CCTV, we were somehow tracked down by other means by the farmer who paid my parents a visit that evening. If there was ever a time of coming close to going under the guillotine with my furious father working the lever, that would have been it.
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It had to happen sooner or later. There's now an app that monitors ultra-violet levels, with the new sensor being trialled in 100 New Zealand preschools in a bid to improve children's sun safety and reduce the nation's skin cancer rates. Sensors are being set up in the playground to send information to a tablet in the classroom informing teachers of UV levels before kids go outside to play. The $295 device also sends prompts for when to apply and re-apply sunscreen. Kindergartens and play centres have already found the set-up useful in establishing whether it is safe to let the children play outside. Throughout the day, staff refer to it and, when required, get the children to slap up and put their hats on. One centre recently reported a moment when the device warned that the UV had reached danger level and the children had to be kept inside. Oh dear.
