Well who didn't know this already. We have weak ass kids who aren't allowed to do anything that might "hurt them"!

Same goes for us adults. Too much over-protection and cushioning. Are we really this delicate that a paper cut in the office needs to be reported, or when outdoors you need to report that you slipped on some mud and fell??? Oh dear, how can me eliminate, isolate or minimise this boo hoo.

I reckon a lot of it is to do with too much OSH and health and safety. People and organisations are too afraid to allow anything because they might get done for it.

A lot of it is common sense so if you get hurt it's your fault i reckon. Need to deal with this and harden up NZ.

We're going to get our butts kicked in future wars the way things are going.

Isn't it funny how these international experts on one hand complain that New Zealand's accidental child death and injure rates are way too high and now on the other hand complain of New Zealand being overprotective of our children. So which is it????

A little bit of rolling around in the mud does wonders for the immune system.

This guy is a regular sherlock holmes. The 2 groups are from completely different standings in the world. If you've got bombs dropping on your house day in day out, you're gona be..obviously..just that little bit harder than the kiwi kid dreaming about it on his computer game. You're probably gona learn how to get things done a little more efficiently when your bros and sisters are relying on you to bring the food home.

One is desperate to get to the next LEVEL the other one is desperate to get to the next DAY. Apparently you gota be a doctor to bring up this contrast.

"Children were more able to influence their environment in war-ravaged areas such as the Gaza Strip"

Typical rubbish from a typical UN organisation.

NZ kids aren't over-protected, in fact schools go overboard these days promoting self-sufficiency in outdoors trips, sometimes at the cost of lives.

Perception of overprotection is perhaps from parents dropping-off kids to school where kids used to walk to school by themselves. However the current lax attitude to prisoner parole and the number of offenders on the streets and community care of mental health patients means that such protection on the streets is almost mandatory.

NZ law itself forces over-protection - kids under 14 aren't allowed to be at home by themselves! Yet Christoph Baker and others are encouraging kids to be in the much more dangerous streets by themselves !

As usual it takes an overseas expert to come here and point out the obvious. A few painful knocks at play in childhood is a fast learning tool. Perhaps if we abandondon the seduction of the technology nonsense that is thrust at us everyday by people interested in sales spreadsheets and concentrated on reality we'll all be better off. As for Nick at #1, he does have trustworthy face doesn't he? Not so sure about the beard but I guess it is appropriately scholarly.

Well that fella has a trustworthy face, I'll believe what he says!