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NZ Herald
18-05-2025
- Health
- NZ Herald
What an NZ nutritionist and cancer survivor wants parents to know about kids' nutrition
'It was just such a shock. One day I was packing school lunches and putting my kids to bed and then the next I was staring down at my own mortality and absolutely nothing prepares you for that.' In the months that followed, Urlich underwent 'a mix of conventional and natural' treatments, including 12 operations, chemotherapy and immunotherapy – which she says left her hospitalised several times due to the side effects – and three weeks of intensive holistic treatment in Mexico. Her last operation was HIPEC – hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy, a 12-hour operation involving the removal of most of her stomach and her ovaries before filling her abdomen with hot chemotherapy. 'I woke up on Mother's Day last year in the intensive care unit ... not the place you want to be on Mother's Day,' she says. 'My surgeon said, 'I'm a mum as well, and we're both here doing this together'.' One of the toughest parts of undergoing treatment for cancer was navigating how to talk to her children about it. 'I'm not going to sugarcoat it. It was heartbreaking, and it still is. 'My instinct was to protect my kids and shield them from the weight of what was really happening, and I'd often burst into tears once they were all asleep at night, and just hold it together through the day. 'But at the same time, I wanted to be really honest with them, and we talked a lot about the feelings of uncertainty.' Urlich says Hawke's Bay-based The Acorn Project was invaluable in helping her family navigate her diagnosis. The charity offers support and advice for young people, parents and caregivers facing cancer. 'At the time, I had a 17-year-old and a 4-year-old, so how you speak to a 4-year-old and a 17-year-old is very different,' she explains. 'I think the hardest thing [was] when I would see them look at me with their eyes just filled with fear, and they wouldn't even need to say what it was they were fearful of. I could just see it in their little eyes.' Now, Urlich is grateful to be in stable health with clear scans. 'I get anxiety with a little pain or a niggle, but my mindset's pretty strong and I'm in a good space right now.' Through it all, she says, 'I think it's deepened my purpose'. 'I saw firsthand how deeply disconnected the conventional system is from true nourishment and healing, and it still blows my mind that you're offered cake and sugary drinks while being hooked up to chemotherapy. I feel like that's a perfect snapshot of how far we've drifted from supporting the body as a whole. 'I just feel deeply passionate about health and healing and feel that you've got to be really proactive in supporting your health.' It's that passion, along with her years of experience as a nutritionist in a hospital setting and her own clinical practice, that originally led her to create Odi, a line of natural baby food, meal and smoothie boosters. '[My work] really gave me a front row seat to the struggles that many parents are facing when it comes to feeding their kids. Advertise with NZME. 'I saw how hard it was to find convenient options that were also nutrient-dense and aligned with what I knew was best, and I just couldn't find anything that was healthy and convenient, so I really just wanted to bridge that gap and make it accessible and easy for parents.' Despite the personal challenges she's faced, the business has been 'going strong', she says. Odi, formerly known as Norish, recently rebranded to avoid being mistaken for another product. Urlich says she's grateful to have a team and community to help support her but that the business has also been 'a nice distraction'. '[I'm lucky to] work on something that I'm really passionate about and kind of forget about all the other things that were going on at the same time.' With the wealth of information about health and nutrition available online, Urlich says there are several misconceptions about what growing children need. 'I think there's this idea that kids need kids' food and like beige, ultra-processed, really sweet foods, but children really thrive on whole foods and we just need to teach them that from the get-go. 'I also see a lot of fear around introducing allergens and iron-rich foods, which can then delay important exposures that children need.' As a mum of four herself, Urlich knows all too well that 'feeding a family well in this climate is really tough – especially when you've got a teenager that eats like a horse. 'We're big on education, so sharing tips and recipes, meal ideas that stretch the budget without having to sacrifice quality as well ... it's not always about perfection, it's just about doing the best with what you've got and feeling supported as well.' Urlich says the important thing is to get back to basics when considering what to feed your family. 'Trends come and go, but I think that foundational nutrition doesn't change. 'Look at who's giving the advice as well ... I think just having a trusted source where you're getting your information is always good.'
NZ Herald
12-05-2025
- Politics
- NZ Herald
Critics slam Government move to remove ECE cultural obligations
Minister for Regulation David Seymour said the changes are to 'streamline' operational requirements and reduce the regulatory burden on centres, but opponents said it amounted to recolonisation. 'Initially I was angry,' said Hawke's Bay-based Kaiako Penina Ria (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Pārau). 'Not just for myself, but for my ancestors and whānau that fought for us to be recognised as tangata whenua. From that point of view, it feels like we're starting all over again.' Ria said the proposed law change reminded her of the stories she had heard from her grandparents and great-grandparents about how they were treated by the education system. Assimilation enforced by the Native Schools Act in 1867 saw schooling conducted entirely in English, with the curriculum skewed towards instruction in manual and domestic skills. Mātauranga Māori and cultural practices were sidelined, and for decades, Māori were also punished for speaking te reo Māori at school, contributing to the loss of the language and deepening educational inequities. 'Our whānau went through so much so we could have the future that they wanted. I feel like it's important that we carry that on for them, and also for our future generations,' Ria said. Currently, ECE centres must meet minimum standards set by the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008. The review recommended that only 26 of the current 98 licensing criteria be retained in full with the rest amended, merged, downgraded or removed. 'The Government is addressing ECE regulations to ensure child safety is priority number one, children's education is number two, and parental choice is number three,' Seymour said. 'The ethnic background of the child shouldn't have any bearing on this, and providers shouldn't be forced to worry about the Treaty when their priorities are keeping children safe and educating.' Academic research has previously highlighted the importance of children feeling secure and supported in their culture. 'There is little doubt that a secure cultural identity is essential for wellbeing and for educational and societal participation and success. It is a key factor in people's sense of self and their relationships with others,' a report commissioned by the Education Review Office (ERO) said. Ria said for preschool children, acknowledging culture included using waiata, karakia, speaking te reo Māori, and teaching of purākau (traditional Māori stories). 'We value where they come from, we learn about their whakapapa and what's important to them, a lot of recognition of who they are, their uniqueness. 'Working in mainstream and seeing the importance for tamariki Māori, to know where they come from and learn about their heritage. To me, that's important, it's something that I wish I would've had when I was younger.' While there was a focus on te ao Māori, ECE centres also support other cultures, such as celebrating the start of Chinese Lunar New Year. Kirikiriroa Hamilton-based kaiako and NZEI Te Riu Roa Early Childhood representative Zane McCarthy said that while his centre will likely opt to keep the bicultural aspects, he worried some centres would drop them altogether. 'There are bad actors. There are bad apples and poor employers who will quash it. It's basically colonisation again.' McCarthy was particularly concerned about the private centres, which he said made up around 75% of the sector. 'A lot of that 75% have profit-driven motives. When you've got a teacher workforce who are crying out for professional development to learn about te ao Māori, they're needing support in order to uphold te Tiriti and mokopuna Māori. But that comes at a cost, and so when you've got profit-driven motives, they're going to look to scrap that aspect in order to make the bottom line look better.' He said there have been big benefits of the cultural requirements in the past. 'Whānau have learned, have grown and learnt alongside their tamariki, when they're coming home with new kupu, waiata, purākau, that they're learning from them, and they're becoming even bolder in their own culture and identity as well.' Green Party MP and spokesperson for ECE Benjamin Doyle said the move prioritised corporate greed and profit over public good and wellbeing. 'There will be some private ECE owners who are looking to make a profit over everything else, and so they'll see that as an unnecessary thing to do anymore, because it's not related to their licensing, they'll just opt not to.' Doyle said celebrating culture and identity can make Māori learners feel seen. 'When they are nurtured by waiata and purākau, when they are nurtured by those values of manaakitanga and whānaungatanga, it increases their hauora, their wellbeing. And that is not intangible, right? It's tangible.' By taking the current requirements away, Doyle said, the evidence shows tamariki Māori will not thrive. 'Learning does not occur. It cannot occur when we do not celebrate identity and culture. So it will have a huge impact on our tamariki. And we know that when tamariki thrive, whānau thrive, and if tamariki are suffering, whānau suffer.' The Early Childhood Council represents childcare centre owners and managers in the ECE sector, speaking for more than 1500 centres across Aotearoa. Early Childhood Council chief executive Simon Laube said he was not concerned the change would result in a lack of acknowledgement of children's culture, and questioned whether they should have even been a requirement for centres to open in the first place. 'Was it really right to give it to a service provider as a regulation?' Responding to the argument that private providers will prioritise profit over the wellbeing of children, Laube said that was not the reality he saw day-to-day. 'We spend our time trying to support providers who can't actually pay their current costs of business so they are not profitable and that's a strong kind of trend across the sector. It's quite hard to even really engage with that argument properly, because we're struggling to just keep our centres going with what the current expectations are.' Removing requirements around cultural aspects would not even necessarily result in cost-savings, Laube said. 'If you really do think about it in terms of business costs, what could they save money on there? You still need to have resources for learning, would they not have language in them? Would they not have people in them? Would that not include culture? It's very hard to cut out culture from a people-based industry.' Cabinet has accepted the recommendations, and Seymour will introduce the Education and Training (Early Childhood Education Reform) Amendment Bill in July.
Scoop
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
The Small Regulatory Shift That Could Have Big Impacts On Mokopuna Māori
Article – RNZ Teachers say removing requirements to recognise cultural identity in early childhood centres is recolonisation, and a backward step. , (Ngāpuhi, Te Māhurehure, Ngāti Manu) Longform Journalist, Te Ao Māori Research shows that when children know who they are and feel strong in their cultural identity, they succeed. So why is the government moving to scrap the requirement for ECE centres to support each child's right to do so? Downgrading a law compelling early childhood centres to acknowledge children's culture is a backward step which may see tamariki Māori left behind while profits are put first, critics say. The government plans to remove the legal requirements for the ECE sector to acknowledge Māori as tangata whenua, to support children's right to cultural confidence and teach about Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Minister for Regulation David Seymour said the changes are to 'streamline' operational requirements and reduce the regulatory burden on centres, but opponents said it amounted to recolonisation. 'Initially I was angry,' said Hawke's Bay-based Kaiako Penina Ria (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Pārau). 'Not just for myself, but for my ancestors and whānau that fought for us to be recognised as tangata whenua. From that point of view, it feels like we're starting all over again.' Ria said the proposed law change reminded her of the stories she had heard from her grandparents and great-grandparents about how they were treated by the education system. Assimilation enforced by the Native Schools Act in 1867 saw schooling conducted entirely in English, with the curriculum skewed towards instruction in manual and domestic skills. Mātauranga Māori and cultural practices were sidelined, and for decades Māori were also punished for speaking te reo Māori at school, contributing to the loss of the language and deepening educational inequities. 'Our whānau went through so much so we could have the future that they wanted. I feel like it's important that we carry that on for them, and also for our future generations,' Ria said. Currently, ECE centres must meet minimum standards set by the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008. The review recommended that only 26 of the current 98 licensing criteria be retained in full with the rest amended, merged, downgraded or removed. 'The government is addressing ECE regulations to ensure child safety is priority number one, children's education is number two, and parental choice is number three,' Seymour said. 'The ethnic background of the child shouldn't have any bearing on this, and providers shouldn't be forced to worry about the treaty when their priorities are keeping children safe and educating.' Academic research has previously highlighted the importance of children feeling secure and supported in their culture. 'There is little doubt that a secure cultural identity is essential for wellbeing and for educational and societal participation and success. It is a key factor in people's sense of self and their relationships with others,' a report commissioned by the Education Review Office (ERO) said. Ria said for preschool children, acknowledging culture included using waiata, karakia, speaking te reo Māori, and teaching of purākau (traditional Māori stories). 'We value where they come from, we learn about their whakapapa and what's important to them, a lot of recognition of who they are, their uniqueness. 'Working in mainstream and seeing the importance for tamariki Māori, to know where they come from and learn about their heritage. To me, that's important, it's something that I wish I would've had when I was younger.' While there was a focus on te ao Māori, ECE centres also support other cultures, such as celebrating the start of Chinese Lunar New Year. Kirikiriroa-based kaiako and NZEI Te Riu Roa Early Childhood representative Zane McCarthy said that while his centre will likely opt to keep the bicultural aspects, he worried some centres would drop them altogether. 'There are bad actors. There are bad apples and poor employers who will quash it. It's basically colonisation again.' McCarthy was particularly concerned about the private centres, which he said made up around 75 percent of the sector. 'A lot of that 75 percent have profit-driven motives. When you've got a teacher workforce who are crying out for professional development to learn about te ao Māori, they're needing support in order to uphold Te Tiriti and mokopuna Māori. But that comes at a cost, and so when you've got profit-driven motives, they're going to look to scrap that aspect in order to make the bottom line look better.' He said there have been big benefits of the cultural requirements in the past. 'Whānau have learned, have grown and learnt alongside their tamariki, when they're coming home with new kupu, waiata, purākau, that they're learning from them, and they're becoming even bolder in their own culture and identity as well.' Green Party MP and spokesperson for ECE Benjamin Doyle said the move prioritised corporate greed and profit over public good and well-being. 'There will be some private ECE owners who are looking to make a profit over everything else, and so they'll see that as an unnecessary thing to do anymore, because it's not related to their licensing, they'll just opt not to.' Doyle said celebrating culture and identity can make Māori learners feel seen. 'When they are nurtured by waiata and purākau, when they are nurtured by those values of manaakitanga and whānaungatanga, it increases their hauora, their well-being. And that is not intangible, right? It's tangible.' By taking the current requirements away, Doyle said, the evidence shows tamariki Māori will not thrive. 'Learning does not occur. It cannot occur when we do not celebrate identity and culture. So it will have a huge impact on our tamariki. And we know that when tamariki thrive, whānau thrive, and if tamariki are suffering, whānau suffer.' The Early Childhood Council represents childcare centre owners and managers in the ECE sector, speaking for more than 1500 centres across Aotearoa. Early Childhood Council chief executive Simon Laube said he was not concerned the change would result in a lack of acknowledgement of children's culture, and questioned whether they should have even been a requirement for centres to open in the first place. 'Was it really right to give it to a service provider as a regulation?' Responding to the argument that private providers will prioritise profit over the well-being of children, Laube said that was not the reality he saw day-to-day. 'We spend our time trying to support providers who can't actually pay their current costs of business so they are not profitable and that's a strong kind of trend across the sector. It's quite hard to even really engage with that argument properly, because we're struggling to just keep our centers going with what the current expectations are.' Removing requirements around cultural aspects would not even necessarily result in cost-savings, Laube said. 'If you really do think about it in terms of business costs, what could they save money on there? You still need to have resources for learning, would they not have language in them? Would they not have people in them? Would that not include culture? It's very hard to cut out culture from a people-based industry.' Cabinet has accepted the recommendations, and Regulation Minister David Seymour will introduce the Education and Training (Early Childhood Education Reform) Amendment Bill in July.
Canberra Times
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Canberra Times
Under-16 social media ban proposed in New Zealand
"As a mother of four children I feel very strongly that families and parents should be better supported when it comes to overseeing their children's online exposure," the Hawke's Bay-based MP said.
Perth Now
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Perth Now
Under-16 social media ban proposed in New Zealand
An Australia-style legislative ban on social media for under-16s is being proposed by New Zealand's governing National party. Prime Minister Chris Luxon has announced his party will back a private member's bill which will require social media companies verify a user's age as above 16 before they can access certain platforms. The bill, to be introduced by backbench MP Catherine Wedd, does not list which platforms will be included, but includes maximum fines for non-compliance at $NZ2 million ($A1.8 million). Ms Wedd said the "bill closely mirrors the approach taken in Australia". "As a mother of four children I feel very strongly that families and parents should be better supported when it comes to overseeing their children's online exposure," the Hawke's Bay-based MP said. While Australia's world first law passed with bipartisan support from the major parties, it is unclear whether National has the support needed to pass a similar Kiwi law. Centre-left opposition Labour is warming to the idea but it's not over the line, with leader Chris Hipkins saying it is a "debate we need to have". National's coalition partner NZ First holds a similar view, while the third coalition partner ACT, a libertarian party, won't offer support. "Social media is doing enormous harm to young people (but) for every problem there is a solution that is simple, neat - and wrong," ACT leader David Seymour said. "ACT opposes National's bill banning under-16s from social media because it is not workable. "We would be better to learn from the Aussies' mistakes than make the same mistakes at the same time as them." Without support from Labour, National's bill would require either the support of the Greens, or both NZ First and the Maori Party to become law.
