In her first years of adulthood, Jai Breitnauer found herself living in a bold and hopeful nation. More than two decades on, she laments on how the Britain we know now came to be. Apparently, fish off the coast of the United Kingdom are happier because they’re British. This is what leader of the House … Read more
Half a million New Zealanders are predicted to return home in the wake of Covid-19, but our family won’t be on that list until New Zealand sorts out its approach to special needs and disability education. In August 2019 we left our beloved New Zealand, the country my husband and kids are natural citizens of, … Read more
People like me already don’t know when we will see ‘home’ again, thanks to the forthcoming border fees, writes Jai Breitnauer. We don’t need to be judged for it too. About eight weeks ago we got a message we had been dreading – my father-in-law was in hospital having been in a motorbike crash. Of … Read more
‘Stay in your bubble’ didn’t exist 100 years ago, but our ancestors would want us to know how essential it is to do so, says Jai Breitnauer. It was a warm but slightly grey January day in 2019 when I pulled the car over to the side of SH1, just south of Temuka. Although it … Read more
Government mistrust, confused messaging and fear have blighted the UK’s approach to the pandemic, says Jai Breitnauer, who recently departed NZ to move home to Britain. Stay home, stay safe, protect the NHS. That was the official text I got on my phone this morning, 24th March 2020, after an incredible 10 days of panic … Read more
Jai Breitnauer on what happens when male role models start disappearing from a child’s life. Recently, we saw a ghost from the past. Once a regular visitor to our home, there just after the birth of our first child and a constant presence for more than a decade, this individual disappeared from our lives a … Read more
The success stories of people with extra struggles may not get awards and trophies, but they’re worth celebrating all the same, says Jai Breitnauer. It’s the time of year for awards assemblies and prize-givings, for clubs and teams handing out certificates and trophies. It’s traditional, as we approach Christmas and the end of the school … Read more
The small-claims mediation process is meant to give real people a voice, but the financial and emotional sacrifice just isn’t worth it, writes Jai Breitnauer When we moved to the semi-rural dreamland of Te Henga (Bethell’s Beach) in 2017, we couldn’t imagine that anything would be able to tarnish the beautiful views, the incredible wildlife, … Read more
After years living in New Zealand with her family, English writer Jai Breitnauer is going home. Or is she? I bloody love New Zealand. That might not always come across in the pieces I write, but I do. I love Jacinda and our lefty, greeny, don’t-mention-Winston government. I love the people who take their actual … Read more
Coroner Tim Scott’s comments regarding the death of Carla Neems have the potential to plunge New Zealand into a moral panic. But having freedom and responsibility is an essential part of child development, writes Jai Breitnauer. When I was six, my mum walked me and my friend Marie to school every day. In the evening, … Read more
Because yet another layer of bureaucracy is just what education needs right now. Yeah right, says Jai Breitnauer. Whenever the issue of teacher pay comes up – which is quite a lot at the moment as New Zealand prepares for Wednesday’s massive strike action – there is always someone who says, ‘what about performance related … Read more
May 20 – 26 is macular degeneration awareness week. The subject is a personal one for Grant Thompson and his daughter Donna, who have both been diagnosed the condition which can lead to blindness. “I thought I just needed new glasses, but my optometrist told me I was going blind.” When Grant Thompson was diagnosed … Read more
Stories linking cases of extreme child neglect to plant-based diets are peddling dangerous rhetoric, writes Jai Breitnauer. When I read about the malnourished toddler in Sydney this week, who at 19 months was so severely starved she looked like a newborn baby, I was heartbroken and outraged. But I also felt something else – anger. … Read more
Many people were disappointed about the government’s abandonment of the capital gains tax plan. But is there an alternative that could still open up the property market to those currently priced out? I’m just going to put my cards on the table – I am a supporter of a capital gains tax (CGT). I’m an … Read more
Jai Breitnauer wrote that she was at her ‘wit’s end’ over a lack of funding for her child with autism spectrum disorder. Then the Ministry of Education stepped in. Is it a happy ending? Only sort of, she writes. In March I wrote a deeply personal, and quite sweary, essay about how shit the education … Read more
Millennials and post-Millennials continue to have it out with the ever defensive Baby Boomers over the environment. Jai Breitnauer asks where are Gen X and what can they offer? It’s 1987: my parents have just traded their old fridge for a CFC-free version. Roll on deodorant is now a thing. The phrase ‘global warming’ is … Read more
There’s something about universities that make entitled young men feel safe pushing the boundary between consensual sex and rape – and it has to change, writes Jai Breitnauer. Admittedly, when I saw my old higher education institute, the University of Warwick, hit UK headlines earlier this year over a group rape chat scandal, I wasn’t … Read more
Children with special education needs and disability aren’t even getting the education they’re legally entitled to, let alone the one they deserve, and it’s about time the Minister of Education took ownership, writes Jai Breitnauer. I’m writing this from my kitchen table, not my office, because my ASD child has once again been stood down … Read more
A stream of overseas visitors has shown me how the NZ tourism industry needs to encourage more environmentally friendly behaviour, writes Jai Breitnauer. “If you don’t want them, I guess just chuck them out,” my friend told me, gesturing to the pile of stuff on the deck. “That’s what we would have had to do … Read more
Should you have to take yourself apart and give yourself away, just to find out who you are? Western society has long been obsessed with hoarding, with clutter. Marie Kondo, with her combination of minimalist style and impeccable manners, is currently taking the world by storm, but she is just another in a long line … Read more
On Monday, a UK journalist published a piece in a national newspaper about her experience of ‘free bleeding’ – and a whole pile of men told her exactly what they thought about it. Free bleeding, if you don’t know (and I didn’t until this week), is the practice of not using any devices like tampons … Read more
Poorly paid, with no job security and no formal career development, the mostly female profession of teacher aide has been badly treated for generations – and the knock-on effects are keeping others out of the workforce. Jai Breitnauer reports. Teachers are striking, psychologists are speaking out about the impact of a lack of resources, and as … Read more
Spoiler alert: it’s by not having any kids in Early Childhood Education centres. Jai Breitnauer looks at whether 20 hours free in New Zealand is really free. My youngest son went back to school today and, like many other parents, I breathed just a little sigh of relief. Not relief that my kids won’t be … Read more
Jai Breitnauer speaks to her sons’ primary school principal Riki Teteina about teaching in New Zealand and the teacher shortage Bill English says doesn’t exist. This is our final piece on The Spinoff Parents this week about education. We think it’s such an important topic for parents that it deserves this much attention. Monday, we … Read more
Jai Breitnauer talks about shared parenting in the 21st Century when you’re a one mother, one father family. Long, long ago, in a hemisphere far, far away, there was a little girl called Jaime who liked red ribbons in her hair, grapes in her lunchbox and horse riding at the weekend. Every morning after a … Read more