Kōrero: Household management

Until the later 20th century children were often a household’s messenger, going to the local shop for milk or bread or delivering items between households. A parent might lend his or her son to help a neighbour. From the 1980s fear of ‘stranger danger’ and traffic limited children’s movement outside their home, and the use of children to go to the dairy and run messages was reduced. In a reversal of the old pattern, a new household task was added – that of driving children to school, on visits to friends, to sports games and classes. Tracey Smith, shown in 2007 (front centre), takes her children to their football games, ferries them and other players around Auckland and is a sideline supporter (she's a dedicated football mum who also coaches two junior teams). Shown with Smith are (from left) team members Reade Boothe, Casey Matthews and Kunal Ratnam.