Ardern was telling the citizens of New Zealand about the new public health restrictions and government schemes
File image of New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern. AP
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern recently experienced an unexpected voice cut during a livestream as her three-year-old daughter Neve was up past her bedtime. Ardern was giving an update on the decision made by the administration in the country’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
She was telling the citizens of New Zealand about the new public health restrictions and government schemes as the country has been reporting new cases for the past few days. She was repeatedly interrupted by her daughter Neve during the livestream.
In the livestream video, Neve’s faint voice can be heard off-screen asking: “Mummy?”.
“You’re meant to be in bed darling,” the 41-year-old Kiwi leader advised her. “No,” undeterred Neve responded. Asking her daughter to sleep, Ardern said, “It’s bedtime darling – pop back to bed and I’ll come and see you in a second”.
While apologising for the situation that occurred and familiar to parents worldwide, she said sorry to viewers.
“That was a bedtime fail, wasn’t it? Does anyone else have kids escape like three, four times after bedtime?” she asked to people watching her livestream.
Ardern informed viewers that her mother was present in her home that evening who would be assisting her daughter Neve to bed.
Ardern continued her live streaming and informed the citizens about the revised guidelines to curb the spread of coronavirus in New Zealand. Neve again interrupted and asked Ardern, “What’s taking so long?”. This time the prime minister was forced to end her livestream. “I’m sorry darling, it is taking so long,” she was seen telling her daughter.
Ardern apologizes to everyone and informs them that she is going to put Neve back to bed. While ending the livestream, she thanked viewers for joining the live session.
Ardern gave birth to her daughter while in office in 2018 and became the second prime minister in the world after Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto to do so. Ardern took her daughter Neve onto the floor of the UN Assembly in New York in the same year.