New Zealand: The Prime Minister’s daughter Jacinda Ardern, 3, went live

“You should be in bed.”
Ardern’s daughter explodes in the live video

11/09/2021, 11:07 a.m

Putting offspring to bed in the evening is one of the real challenges for many parents. Nor does New Zealand’s Prime Minister Ardern always go smoothly, as her daughter Neve shows in a video.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has given birth while in office. Neff’s daughter is now three years old and she doesn’t always seem ready to go to bed properly, even if her mother still has government business to do. New Zealanders were able to experience this live on Facebook on Monday night.

In the video, Ardern informed New Zealanders about the government’s current coronavirus measures. The country reacted to the outbreak of the delta variant with drastic measures, which are now being eased again after the outbreak was contained. In Auckland, which has been hit hard by the outbreak, the easing will take effect on Wednesday, with remaining lockdown measures to be lifted in a few weeks.

Ardern described these changes when, about three minutes later, her daughter could be heard calling “Mama”. The Prime Minister turns to her daughter and tells her, “You should be in bed, my love.” The camera continues to operate during this time. Apparently, Neff doesn’t see bedtime like her mom does.

It’s been a long time since I fell asleep

Then Ardern says what most busy parents would say: “Time for bed baby, go back to bed, I’ll be fine with you.” Fortunately, Ardern’s mother took charge and put her granddaughter back to bed.

The Prime Minister apologizes to the viewers for the interruption but deals with it with good humor. I thought it was safe for video recordings. You ask, “Anyone else who has kids who run away three or four times after going to sleep?” “Fortunately, my mother is here.”

A few minutes later, Neff returns and interrupts her mother again to “say good night” and ask when the mother will be finished. Ardern replies, “I’m sorry baby, it took so long, okay.” She then returns to the viewers to finish the briefing. Finally saying goodbye to taking custody. “I’m sorry, I’m going to put Nivi back to bed now because she should have been asleep by now,” she says.