A birthday wish for our children

TODAY IS A TOTALLY DIFFERENT WORLD EVEN WITHOUT THE PANDEMIC

WELL, it’s my 83rd birthday today! I read last week that the coronavirus lockdown had been lifted in regional Victoria, but has it?

I still can’t have a party for all my relatives and friends to help me celebrate because of the restrictions on numbers of people meeting indoors and out.

The thing about this pandemic that has stood out in my mind is the mental health impact the lockdowns have had on children and young people – it’s truly scary.

Sky News host Paul Murray told us on Friday that the Kids Helpline has had 10,500 calls so far this year – which equates to about 44 a day.

It got me thinking about my own childhood back in the 1940s and 1950s and those of my own children two to three decades later.

I was born in 1938 and didn’t know my dad until I was about seven years old because he was away at World War II from 1939 to 1945.

He did have a couple of weeks off when he returned from the Middle East, before heading to Queensland to train for the jungle-fighting that awaited him in Papua-New Guinea.

I think I have written about this before, so I won’t go into any further details, except to say, when I look back from an adult perspective, the war was pretty tough on Dad, and he saw horrible things in New Guinea.

Schooling was a mix with St Andrew’s private school – held at the old East Geelong Free Library, which was later destroyed by fire – Tate Street Primary School and Swanston Street (or ‘Swanno’), which I attended from grades three to six.

We were aware of serious illnesses like polio, scarlet fever and diphtheria, and everyone seemed to get whooping cough, mumps, chickenpox and measles.

Most of these illnesses don’t seem to exist these days, because of vaccination, but they were widespread when I was young. With some of the less serious illnesses back then, many parents would get children who did not have the disease – chickenpox and measles, for example – to mix with those who did, just to get them over and done with.

But back to school and Geelong Junior Tech provided my secondary school experience.

It had its moments too, beginning with what was termed “the initiation” – on your first day at school you had your head shoved in the toilet and the chain pulled to the delight of the older kids.

But in all my years at school – and I left as a 15-year-old after Form Three – I cannot recollect hearing of anyone committing suicide, or even talking about it.

The first suicide that came to the attention of my wife and I was a school mate of one of our sons in the late 1970s or early

1980s and some years later the two sons of different friends also took their lives.

Today is a totally different world even without the pandemic, because of modern technology and the widespread cyber-bullying, which had led to an upsurge in suicide even before the pandemic. But there is no doubt that the lockdowns have had a terrible impact on children and young people.

I read last week that attempted suicides among Victorian teenagers soared by 184 per cent during the fourth lockdown between December 1, 2020, and May 31, 2021.

And remember it’s not only the kids who are calling for help or who suicide who are stressed, but mums and dads, the wider families and the professionals and volunteers taking the calls.

Geelong’s 17 mental health organisations have met under the leadership of Barwon Health to co-ordinate their response to this crisis, but we can all help by keeping an eye on our kids and simply asking them: “R U OK”.

I believe families with their love and compassion will underpin the wonderful work of the professionals volunteers and play a major role in bringing an end to this terrible crisis.

Those needing personal support can phone: Lifeline 13 11 14; headspace Geelong: 5222 6690; or Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800.