Jai Breitnauer

Jai Breitnauer has worked as a writer and editor for 18 years, and her passions include parenting, health, sustainability and vegan food. Social justice is at the core of her work. She lives in Auckland, with her architect husband and two dance-mad boys, one of whom has additional needs.

Politics

Jul 23, 2021

Chris Hipkins needs a reality check on kids with special learning needs

The education minister’s claim that all learners are supported in state schools is so clearly untrue that it makes me despair.

Society

Jan 24, 2021

The broken promises that led to Brexit Britain

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.

Society

Dec 4, 2020

We miss New Zealand desperately, but we're staying put in education exile

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.

Society

Aug 3, 2020

A simple request from those of us shut out by managed isolation fees: Be kind

People like me already don't know when we will see 'home' again, thanks to the forthcoming border fees. We don’t need to be judged for it too.

Society

Apr 4, 2020

The lessons New Zealand learned from Spanish flu

'Stay in your bubble' didn't exist 100 years ago, but our ancestors would want us to know how vital it is that we do so.

Covid-19

Mar 26, 2020

The darkness fell so fast: A dispatch from Britain under Covid-19

Government mistrust, confused messaging and fear have blighted the UK's approach to the pandemic

Parents

Feb 22, 2020

The issue with disappearing dads

Jai Breitnauer on what happens when male role models start disappearing from a child’s life.

Society

Dec 12, 2019

An end-of-year celebration of small miracles and everyday triumphs

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.

Business

Oct 22, 2019

On the horror and futility that is the Disputes Tribunal

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

Society

Aug 28, 2019

A life divided: An immigrant says goodbye to New Zealand

After years living in New Zealand with her family, English writer Jai Breitnauer is going home. Or is she?

Parents

Aug 3, 2019

Why you should trust your children with calculated risk

A coroner's comments about 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, argues a mother of two.

Society

May 28, 2019

Performance related pay for teachers is a terrible idea

Because yet another layer of bureaucracy is just what education needs right now. Yeah right, says Jai Breitnauer.

Science

May 20, 2019

The father and daughter facing a future without sight

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.

Food

May 19, 2019

For the last time: veganism is not child abuse

Stories linking cases of extreme child neglect to plant-based diets are peddling dangerous rhetoric, writes Jai Breitnauer.

Society

May 15, 2019

CGT is dead. But there are other ways to thwart a raging property market

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?

Politics

May 9, 2019

I begged for help for my special needs child – and I got it. But there’s a catch

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.

Society

May 1, 2019

It’s time for Generation X to step up on climate change

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?

Society

Apr 12, 2019

Why are universities such a magnet for sexual assaults?

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.

Society

Apr 1, 2019

A desperate plea from the parent of special needs child: we’re at our wit’s end

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.

Society

Jan 26, 2019

The things they left behind: Why campervans are costing our environment

A stream of overseas visitors has shown me how the NZ tourism industry needs to encourage more environmentally friendly behaviour, writes Jai Breitnauer.

Society

Jan 19, 2019

Don’t Marie Kondo your life away

Should you have to take yourself apart and give yourself away, just to find out who you are?

Society

Nov 3, 2018

The Sun ran a story about free-bleeding. What happened next won’t shock you

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.

Parents

Aug 23, 2018

The treatment of teacher aides is a feminist issue

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.

Parents

Feb 12, 2018

ECE isn’t free: How my family saves $8,000 a year

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.

Parents

Sep 14, 2017

‘School has been reduced to child care’: A principal speaks out

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.

Parents

Sep 5, 2017

Pull your weight: If there’s two of you, you both need to parent

Jai Breitnauer talks about shared parenting in the 21st Century if you're a one mother, one father family.

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