Maori seem to take offence at all sorts of things…now it is playdough:
The days of making macaroni necklaces and potato prints at kindergarten are quickly becoming a thing of the past – and playdough may be the next to go.
Many early-learning centres are banning, or at least restricting, the use of food as a play tool because it is deemed culturally insensitive, or “bad tikanga”.
Some Maori centres have even stopped using playdough because it is made from edible ingredients.
Last week, Amy Clark, Christchurch-based director of early learning centre website My Child New Zealand, posted on the group’s Facebook page an activity using the unwanted end of a celery stick to paint a rose. The post sparked a heated online debate.
“Someone questioned whether it was OK to do that,” she said.
Clark said there appeared to be a “general consensus” only food unfit for consumption could be used in art, although one mother posted: “I would still go ahead to use my vegetables to paint”.
Titoki Black, from the Te Kohanga Reo National Trust said some of their rural and Auckland centres did not use playdough.
The trust has several Maori early childhood centres across New Zealand, including in Christchurch.
“Because it is made from flour and water, which is used to make bread, Maori are not comfortable about using playdough and having it thrown around, turning it into beads and wearing it around your neck,” she said.
“Anything from the land. Clay, leaves, that’s what we are encouraging. It’s not that all kohanga reo are banning [playdough], it’s just that it’s Maori practice that you do not play with food.”
What a load of horse-shit.
As usual Maori agitators are more upset about using macaroni and playdough at kindergartens rather than their appalling child abuse statistics.
You know what I find offensive, Maori who refuse to deal with abuse.
