Tena koutou katoa
We want to thank each and every one of our supporters, and we hope that this support helps to show the YMCA how much young children benefit from being in an environment such as the gym.
For a number of reasons we will be closing this petition this evening. We do still intend to fight this policy change but members of our community have expressed concerns regarding this petition, and whilst we disagree with their opinions we respect their views.
For those that believe that we were dishonest or that we withheld information about why this new policy has come about - yes, there was an incident regarding the safety of our daughter on June 1st, and yes, we made a complaint to the YMCA regarding the response from their staff members AFTER the incident occurred, but we NEVER expected the YMCA to bear the responsibility of our daughter's safety (based on a conversation that we had when we were pregnant) and we hold no ill-will towards anyone involved in the original incident and never did. The complaint was never about the incident, and was completely based on the verbal response from a staff member at the time.
We started this petition because we disagree with the new policy, and we feel that it takes away our family's right to be in the gym together, and our right to teach our daughter to love climbing as much as we do. We have never had an issue with the original incident, merely the response from their staff members towards us. From our family's view, the incident that occurred on June 1st was a fluke accident and occurred due to a number of factors - none of which involve the YMCA being responsible for our daughter's safety, because they are not responsible for that. In the creation of their new policy, the YMCA have effectively tried to crack a walnut with a sledgehammer, and the YMCA CEO has blatantly lied to us - if she had been upfront and honest, as gutting as it would have been, we would have backed off. She lied, which I can prove from multiple different sources. A policy implemented based on lies is no better than having no policy at all.
For those that have spread lies and malice about our family - you know who you are, and you know that what you are saying is completely untrue. For the good of all involved, please retract your statements and we will think nothing more on the matter.
Again, thank you all for your support - we really do appreciate it.
Ngā mihi
The Atkinson Whanau