Coming up, Babies!

Written By: - Date published: 12:37 pm, June 15th, 2018 - 68 comments
Categories: babies, families, feminism, gender, jacinda ardern, Media - Tags:


Babies! With Jacinda’s impending pregnancy about to come to full term, the world media are waking up.

With a fresh wave of female idealism spreading across the world, Bloomberg  puts the story out for the world in full heroic form.

The Prime Minister is about to turn into the biggest global story for women since Catherine the Duchess of Cambridge had her first child.

And Minister Genter also gets great coverage in there as well, with her own pregnancy falling due in August. And also a Minister with bold ideas for promoting women.

By luck and by election, New Zealand  is about to have its actual and intended policies for working women held under pretty high scrutiny through comparison to its own Prime Minister and a Minister for Women who are coming up to be mothers at almost the same time.

Great moment for it.

68 comments on “Coming up, Babies! ”

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  1. WILD KATIPO 1
    15 June 2018 at 12:43 pm

    I guess it is / will send a strong and empowering message around the world , wont it.. quite an interesting series of events.

    From out of the mouths of babe’s transforms the world…

  2. alwyn 2
    15 June 2018 at 12:53 pm

    Well a distraction is certainly needed.
    “Look, A squirrel”.
    What is a baby squirrel called anyway?

    • WILD KATIPO 2.1
      15 June 2018 at 1:04 pm

      You’re a distraction if ever there was , mate.

    • Ad 2.3
      15 June 2018 at 1:19 pm

      There is no squirrel policy.

      This is family policy, live.

    • Robert Guyton 2.4
      15 June 2018 at 2:41 pm

      What is a baby squirrel called?
      An alwyn (I’m pretty sure).

      • alwyn 2.4.1
        15 June 2018 at 2:59 pm

        Having just looked it up it is possible you are right. The description of a baby squirrel I found certainly fits me.
        “Squirrels are one of the most entertaining animals to watch. They’re so playful and active. And baby squirrels are just adorable”.
        I’m sure you would agree that I am entertaining, active and adorable wouldn’t you Robert?

        By the way your releasing that photo of your magnificent beard seems to have shamed the miserable attempts of some of the MPs. As far as I could see of the Chamber yesterday Trevor Mallard and Gareth Hughes have given up trying to compete. They both appeared to be clean-shaven.

        • Robert Guyton 2.4.1.1
          15 June 2018 at 4:42 pm

          Adorable, alwyn? Of course you are. Squirrels, it has to be said, are often rabid so I’m always cautious around them, no matter how adorable they seem.
          As to the beard; yes, I believe that is what’s happened and that’s a shame; I was trying to show the way, bring out the wild man in some of our politicians, show that the bare-chinners lack the animal needed in modern politics, but what seems to have happened is a reversion back to pre-man times when chins were bald and voices pitched high. I put it down to fear; fear of the inner wild-man (sometimes, first thing in the morning when I look into the mirror prior to brushing, I too feel that fear!).

        • Stuart Munro 2.4.1.2
          15 June 2018 at 5:09 pm

          Chipmunk is a common term. Although strictly it’s a group of striped squirrel species, many juvenile squirrels are striped, and called chipmunks until they mature.

    • Anne 2.5
      15 June 2018 at 3:11 pm

      That comment was uncalled for and spiteful alwyn @ 2. I have always given you credit for being better than that.

      Notwithstanding your slight back-away @ 2.4.1

      • alwyn 2.5.1
        15 June 2018 at 4:48 pm

        I don’t think it is spiteful at all Anne.
        I hope that she and the baby are going to be well.
        I don’t see it as being important to anyone outside a babies’ family though. On the same day, whenever it is, there will be another 170 babies born in New Zealand. There will be 360,000 babies born in the world. They are all equally special, but only to their families.
        I was very happy and proud of my own children when they were born but I certainly didn’t think anyone outside the family should care.
        If I see, as I fear I will, stories everywhere about “The First Family” or “Jacinda’s Miracle Baby” or such like I will regard the posed stories as being a distraction from the shambles that is the current Government.
        I’m sorry but I really don’t think that this sort of comment is warranted because a woman has a baby
        https://thestandard.org.nz/coming-up-babies/#comment-1494298

        • Robert Guyton 2.5.1.1
          15 June 2018 at 4:55 pm

          “I don’t see it as being important to anyone outside a babies’ family though”
          You can’t see it, alwyn, so perhaps you should refrain from commenting. Jacinda’s baby will be of great interest to a great many New Zealanders and others overseas. That you can’t see that makes you seem somewhat bah-humbuggish.
          PLUS
          “I don’t see it as being important to anyone outside a babies’ family though”
          Do you know something we don’t???
          IS IT TWINS? ALWYN???
          Don’t torment us with hints of some inside knowledge you might have about the number of babies Jacinda is about to deliver, you ol’ fox, you!

          • Robert Guyton 2.5.1.1.1
            15 June 2018 at 4:57 pm

            Somebody get in touch with The Women’s Weekly; I’ve heard a rumour that there are TWINS! (alwyn let it slip, here, on The Standard!)

            • Robert Guyton 2.5.1.1.1.1
              15 June 2018 at 4:58 pm

              At first I thought, TWINS, but “babies” could be…TRIPLETS!!!
              Fox News!

            • WILD KATIPO 2.5.1.1.1.2
              15 June 2018 at 5:11 pm

              Crikey ! Stone the crows !!!

              I’m rocked !!!

              Queen – We Will Rock You Live at Wembley Stadium 1986 … – YouTube
              Video for we will rock you live youtube▶ 2:52

          • alwyn 2.5.1.1.2
            15 June 2018 at 5:14 pm

            Twins are actually very common these days. Far more so than when I was raising a family. Even then all of my 3 siblings had a set of twins. They all ended up with 4 kids while I only had 3.

            One reason for the increasing numbers of twins is exemplified by Ms Ardern. She is over 35. From a source I doubt you want to refer to again on why multiple births have increased.
            “It was partly due to more women waiting longer to have a baby. Hormonal changes as you age make it more likely that your body will release more than one egg at a time – and more than one fertilized egg often means more than one baby”.

            And no, I have no knowledge about her case. Let us simply put it down to my 2 finger typing and a need to get new glasses.

            On the other hand you ask
            “Do you know something we don’t?”.
            Modest as I am I am still required to say. Yes Robert, yes. Many things.
            I can’t grow a beard like yours though. My wife won’t let me.

            By the way I said “I don’t see it” not “I can’t see it”.
            There is a difference..

            • Robert Guyton 2.5.1.1.2.1
              15 June 2018 at 6:02 pm

              “By the way I said “I don’t see it” not “I can’t see it”.
              There is a difference..”
              Educate me – what’s the difference?

              • alwyn …
                15 June 2018 at 8:16 pm

                I guess what I mean is
                “I can’t see it” would mean that why anyone would think it is completely incomprehensible.
                “I don’t see it” is that I personally don’t take the view but I can understand why some people might.
                For example. I can’t see why anyone would smoke P.
                I don’t see why people want to visit Antarctica.

            • Robert Guyton 2.5.1.1.2.2
              15 June 2018 at 6:04 pm

              “My wife won’t let me.”
              Neither will mine.
              He aha tou raruraru, e hoa?

            • Sanctuary 2.5.1.1.2.3
              15 June 2018 at 7:26 pm

              I was at that gig!

      • cleangreen 2.5.2
        15 June 2018 at 7:45 pm

        Anne 100% I agree on yuor comment at 2.5
        “That comment was uncalled for and spiteful alwyn @ 2. I”

        Nasty man that.

        • alwyn 2.5.2.1
          15 June 2018 at 8:07 pm

          That’s nice dear.
          I’m sure that Anne will be pleased to be supported by a total nut case like you.
          Now take your pills and sit down with a nice cup of Milo.

          • WILD KATIPO 2.5.2.1.1
            16 June 2018 at 2:17 pm

            Finally can get back to you after the site went down.

            That’s pretty rude of you , mate?

            Take some happy pills and mellow out.

            There you go , bud , feeling better now ?

            Weathers – Happy Pills (Lyric Video) – YouTube

    • Obtrectator 2.6
      17 June 2018 at 9:35 am

      Proper squirrels, or those North American tree rats that have all but driven them to extinction in Britain?

    • Ken 2.7
      17 June 2018 at 2:19 pm

      Soimun?

  3. Treetop 3
    15 June 2018 at 1:27 pm

    And 125 years since woman got the vote in NZ.

    A celebration indeed.

  4. AsleepWhileWalking 4
    15 June 2018 at 3:06 pm

    I hope the media gives them space and quality time during maternity leave. Even so I’m excited.

    The impending birth feels patriotic somehow. Maybes just a beautiful symbol of a nation turning from dirty politics into a friendly and trustworthy state.

  5. babayaga 5
    15 June 2018 at 3:06 pm

    This post has to be the most desperate attempt at creating a distraction ever.

    • Craig Glen Eden 5.1
      15 June 2018 at 3:37 pm

      A distraction from…..?

      • Baba Yaga 5.1.1
        16 June 2018 at 3:09 pm

        1. The incompetence of the current government.

        2. The increasing arrogance being displayed by the government.

        3. The minimising of sexual assault and related issues by Labour.

        I could go on.

    • mickysavage 5.2
      15 June 2018 at 3:38 pm

      Que? This site is full of posts on grunty issues. This particular post is relevant because babies are going to have a significant political effect.

      • Baba Yaga 5.2.1
        16 June 2018 at 3:11 pm

        The idea that a woman having a baby is the biggest global story since whenever is utter bullshit. Women in positions of power and influence have babies and get on with doing what they do without the need for media beat ups or role models or any of that other bs.

    • Ad 5.3
      15 June 2018 at 3:48 pm

      It’s exactly the opposite.

      Every single policy from government will now be sieved through the hard grid of “hypocrisy”:

      – “How come the PM’s baby gets a special xxxx when the reality on the street is y?”

      – “How come the soft liberal Prime Minister can get so judgemental about all those mothers on social welfare, when she and her baby are in their high and mighty mansion?”

      – “All very well for the Minister of Women’s Affairs to start dictating what women can do, but back when I had children this was the reality …”

      – “How do all those child poverty measures and programmes really stack up now that it’s all getting real?”

      – “Just because she’s had a baby she thinks she can hide behind her shield of sanctimony.”

      – “How dare she name him Trevor?”

      So many political quandaries coming up that New Zealand politics have never faced before. This baby is a political liability to Labour and the government.

      Except the answer to every question and more above becomes:

      Babies

      • alwyn 5.3.1
        15 June 2018 at 5:18 pm

        @Ad
        God I hope not. Your vision strikes me as most depressing.

      • Baba Yaga 5.3.2
        16 June 2018 at 3:11 pm

        I’ve told you before. The babies name is Winston. It was in the coalition agreement.

        • WILD KATIPO 5.3.2.1
          16 June 2018 at 7:07 pm

          I take it you were privy to the inner workings of the negotiations to form a govt, then.

          My , perhaps we should be listening to you instead of moving on to more serious issues at hand… or perhaps just merely tolerating the village idiot . Take a leaf from the real meanings behind these words :

          … ” We don’t like extremists, – we believe in laws and policy’s that support the mass majority of New Zealanders , and not just a small elite ,… who may have gotten control of the political system and the financial funding of political party’s , … shows that in this campaign ” …

          – Winston Peters.

          23/9/2017.

          I think there is , in that statement a veiled and poignant directional objective and was, – if anyone cared to take it seriously at the time, a rather large clue as to whom NZ First was going to head into negotiations with to form a government.

          Particularity as :

          There was a desperate attempt to try and smear Peters in the lead up to the general election. Via a classic ‘leaking of details of Mr Peters unpaid WINZ payments to the media and on to the public’…. it was a clumsy and foolish ploy and it failed miserably. So much so that those involved may now be sued. That sets a precedent.

        • Anne 5.3.2.2
          16 June 2018 at 7:23 pm

          Actually I enjoyed that one. Some of these rwnj’s do have a s.o.h.

          What would be funny is Winston named as a godfather. The cartoonists would have a field day with that one.

    • WILD KATIPO 5.4
      15 June 2018 at 4:16 pm

      Hardly a distraction , babayaga ,… and look on the bright side…

      The Right Honourable Winston Peters Acting Prime Minister will soon be in charge,… and not only will he set about knocking down some tall poppies in the National party who thought they were untouchable and could break the privacy laws with impunity , he will also be looking into corporate’s who do not pay their fair share of tax !

      So this wee baby is a VIP from the get go !

      • cleangreen 5.4.1
        15 June 2018 at 7:50 pm

        Yes WILD KATIPO.

        I cant wait for Winston to do some badly needed “house cleaning”

        There is a lot of dead wood in the house in Parliament alright.

  6. Pataua4life 6
    15 June 2018 at 3:29 pm

    This post is just a Hand Maids Tale.

  7. Sabine 7
    15 June 2018 at 6:58 pm

    any word on the baby snatchers in the US? or is that news that in NZ we don’t discuss?

    OH, yeah, i see its an important baby that will be born. So yeah, lets discuss a women having a baby in the first world with all the trimmings and whistle and bells.

    Fuck me. this post is a load of bollocks.

    • WILD KATIPO 7.1
      15 June 2018 at 7:10 pm

      Bollocks?

      Blackadder is court-martialled – Blackadder – BBC – YouTube
      Video for Blackadder is court-martialled – Blackadder – BBC you tube▶ 2:46

  8. Sanctuary 8
    15 June 2018 at 7:24 pm

    Babies are wonderful. I smiled at a little one at the supermarket today and she gave the most beautiful smile back.

    • cleangreen 8.1
      15 June 2018 at 7:56 pm

      Yes Sanctuary

      This hapend to me last week when a boy baby smilled at me in his mothers cradle and it melted my heart of a 73yr old man.

      It was so wonderful to feel that warmth and his mum was so appreciative of my love of her son’s magic smile..

  9. Stunned Mullet 9
    15 June 2018 at 7:28 pm

    I wish the PM and her family well with the birth and the months that follow.

    I’ve got no wish to see it splashed all over the news however. I expect the PM and her family would prefer privacy as well.

    • cleangreen 9.1
      15 June 2018 at 8:03 pm

      Stunned Mullet ;

      We want to love and show our admiration to Jacinda and and Clark.

      As when I was handing me and my wife’s first born around to everyon to see, the admiration given us was uplifting.

      So dont be surprised if they want to feel our admiration as well as it is a natural human effect after you have a newborn.

    • Treetop 9.2
      16 June 2018 at 4:38 pm

      Not easy to hide a pregnancy in the last trimester. Could you imagine it if the PM said I am not going to discuss my pregnancy.

      The PM, her partner and her child are entitled to the same privacy that you and I are entitled to. She is not unique in having a baby. It is very rare for a PM to have a baby in office. For me that is what is special and that it happens to be the PM of my country.

  10. David Mac 10
    15 June 2018 at 8:03 pm

    In a world that is forever at each others’ throat over one thing or another, the joy of a baby unites us all.

  11. David Mac 11
    15 June 2018 at 8:11 pm

    What is a Clark/Jacinda DNA combo going to produce? I think we’ll get a hunter/gatherer that shares their catch.

  12. One Two 12
    16 June 2018 at 2:47 pm

    This is currently a distraction, however the inherent nature of the distraction remains to be seen…

    Currently child poverty in NZ is a disgrace…

    Will the PM having a baby create a response which can help improve child poverty in NZ….will it lead to policy change and improvements for those not as fortunate…

    Or will it simply be a distraction lead by the media…

    • Baba Yaga 12.1
      16 June 2018 at 3:14 pm

      Child poverty is largely the result of poor parenting and a culture that has attacked the traditional family structure for decades. The government is not to blame, and most likely will not be able to much at all.

      • Stuart Munro 12.1.1
        16 June 2018 at 3:21 pm

        Child poverty on a large scale is the result of the ill-conceived austerity policies that have impoverished their parents.

        The previous government is very much to blame – a more wretched and self-serving pack of numpties has rarely escaped the guillotine.

    • Ad 12.2
      16 June 2018 at 3:19 pm

      Our Prime Minister has made child poverty eradication a personal and ministerial responsibility

      She has (with some courage) chosen this framing. There’s no distraction.

      Jacinta Ardern will personify motherhood in New Zealand and across the English-speaking world.

      • David Mac 12.2.1
        16 June 2018 at 5:30 pm

        Of course children are poor, they’re useless income generators. If I was to live on paper round money I’d need 20 kids and they’d all need to live at your place.

        Is it bad manners to call it parental poverty? To tell the truth? If we’re going to fix it we need to get real about identifying the problem.

        It’s a great big seething mess of a problem and not enough $ coming in the door is just one ingredient. Like all really difficult to fix problems, it has many components to be addressed. Combinations of circumstances that include things like the ease of securing crippling finance, substance abuse and $28 for a week’s food.

        • Ad 12.2.1.1
          16 June 2018 at 6:22 pm

          The current government has made some steps to address poverty in the 2018 budget. You know the list.

          It’s a big problem, but this is the government to do something, and then keep going.

          • David Mac 12.2.1.1.1
            16 June 2018 at 6:40 pm

            I’m sure all New Zealanders would like to see initiatives gaining traction.

            You can get accustomed to a diet of lip service.

            • Ad 12.2.1.1.1.1
              16 June 2018 at 6:54 pm

              It will get a lot clearer once the main provisions start;
              – 1 July 2018 for Working for Families.
              – Also free doctors visits for under 14s.
              – Also decreasing the debt of young people with first year of study free (started earlier this year).

              – Then later this year all central government public servants go to the Living Wage.

              – Then more collective bargaining
              – Then smashing gangs who sell p and drive violent crime that puts people into a cycle of poverty by getting them in jail

              Still plenty of beggars on the street, still plenty of small towns awash with p, still plenty of terrifying child poverty stats.

              It’s going to be very very hard work.

  13. David Mac 13
    16 June 2018 at 6:10 pm

    Those contributing circumstances also include many factors outside of the control of the striken. Outrageous Accom/income ratios, sickness, injury and disability, lack of employment opportunities, crap role models, domestic violence.

    Fixing poverty requires a holistic approach. In each case, considering all of the contributing factors and facilitating a many pronged solution that addresses all components of the “Why?”. If all it’s going to take is an extra $200 a week, those ones are easy fixed.

  14. Timeforacupoftea 14
    16 June 2018 at 8:36 pm

    Winston and Shane in a joint announcment on Sunday will purge the sound waves that compulsory !950’s Plunket will return to New Zealand First voters next elections.

  15. Venezia 15
    16 June 2018 at 10:31 pm

    It would be a fitting gesture at this time for the government to abandon all benefit sanctions which impact on NZ children. Many cases have been imposed for not naming the father, or petty breaches of benefit rules. They have been in effect for far too long and have been shown to have devastating effects on children with little evidence for the claims made as to their goals.