Although smacking, caning and strapping have been used to bring up generations of New Zealanders there is surprisingly little information on the actual use of physical punishment by New Zealand parents. This article reviews studies of child rearing practice in New Zealand families in order to find out about the extent of physical punishment and the views of parents and children on its use. The authors critically discuss a number of reports on the benefits and disadvantages to families of high-rise living. The authors present a number of case studies which present the experience of high-rise living for different types of families. Sole parents have an extra workload due to being the only parent in the household to care for the children.
Sole parents are also more likely than couple families to live in rental and public housing.
Using data from a study of living standards in Australia conducted by the Australian Institute of Family Studies, the situation of couple versus sole parents in the four Victorian localities of Berwick, Box Hill, Melbourne and Werribee are examined. Comparisons are made between the situation of sole parent families and couple families with regard to child care, support from the other parent, housing, children's happiness and progress, and life satisfaction. The paper indicates that there is a need for a greater depth of partnership between governments and the non-government sector in order that human values are the basis of decisions that ensure that scarce resources are used properly in hard economic times. Critical comments on the authors' arguments are made by Don Edgar, Mark Lyons, Geoffrey Robinson and Sue Green. The author, an Indonesian psychologist now studying in Canberra, presents her views on Australian families.