Some things haven’t changed but it’s so much harder being a child today than it was 30 years ago
CHILDLINE’S ESTHER ON HER FEARS FOR KIDS
Childline, run by the NSPCC, have helped more than four million desperate children since launching in October 1986.
For 30 years, the cha rity’s volunteers have been listening and providing support to young people who felt they had nowhere else to turn.
Childline founder Dame Esther Rantzen admits the charity have had to change dramatically over the past three decades as the issues facing kids become more extreme due to the advent of social media.
Here, the former That’s Life! presenter talks about how cyber bullying has taken child abuse to a whole new level.
Childline has changed radically since the launch in 1986. Now we’ve got the internet and mobile phones, where in the old days they had to run to a phone box.
The topics they bring to us have changed too from abuse, which still happens, but now we see more unhappiness, loneliness and mental health issues.
In the last couple of years almost a third of Childline counselling sessions related to mental health issues, suicidal feelings, self-harm, low self- esteem and unhappiness. When Childline were launched, sexual abuse was the most common form of abuse that children and young people were counselled about. Sadly, this is still the case.
Another sad fact is that bullying has been in the top five main concerns from 1989 until today. Years ago it was physical bullying that was most prevalent, now it’s cyber bullying.
It’s much harder to be a child nowadays than it was 30 years ago. It used to be that bullying stopped at the school gate but with the advent of social media, children now have nowhere to hide.
Cyberbullying is a 24/7 torture. There is no escape and kids no longer feel safe outside school hours in their own homes.
I’ve been trolled in the past and even though I have the maturity to deal with the terrible comments, it’s still upsetting to think there are people out there who feel the need to be so hurtful.
I sat through a night shift recently in a Childline office and watched as a counsellor engaged in an online conversation with a young person who really believed no one cared. It was amazing to watch as the teenager realised that not only did the Childline worker care, but they were wanted and valued. The calls we used to take were from young people suffering emotional and physical abuse in their own homes.
Their misery was secret, whereas today their suffering is played out on Facebook and Instagram. Young people may put all their energy into getting 900 likes on social media sites but often there is not one real person they can turn to in their lives who they can trust. Children as young as six are reaching out to Childline for help with feelings of isolation as they struggle with the pressures of growing up in today’s society.
Loneliness is a major issue and counsellors hear from children and teenagers who feel like they are invisible, misunderstood and those closest to them are struggling to understand their feelings.
Last year, Childline delivered more than 4000 counselling sessions – the equivalent of 11 per day – to children suffering from loneliness. Nearly three-quarters of those sessions were with girls, making them five times more likely to contact Childline for help about the issue than boys.
Body image, gender identity issues and family problems also feature high up on the list of calls. There has been a big increase in suicides among the young and most are linked to depression. Bullying results in suicides. Thanks to campaigns run by organisations like Childline, bullying policies have become mandatory in schools, but these must be upheld in every classroom.
I am trying to track down Scots whose lives were saved or changed after making a call to Childline. Hopefully their stories will inspire young people today to make that call if they need help.
Nothing shows the work of the charity better than the case histories of people who have used the service in the past.
My daughter Rebecca once said to me, ‘If you save children, they will save children’. That is so true. We have heard from so many people Childline have helped who are now nurses, social workers and teachers.
I have one complaint about Scotland. They are so often ahead of the rest of the UK in their thinking, it’s about time they rolled into England and imposed their ideas down here. They were first to get a government minister dedicated to bullying.
Childline in Scotland launched in 1988 thanks to Wet Wet Wet.
Marti Pellow had been watching an episode of That’s Life! where a teenager revealed they owed their life to Childline. Royalties from the band’s first No1 hit, With a Little Help from Our Friends, funded the helpline’s Glasgow base.
Sir Cameron Mackintosh has since played a massive part in his support of the service.
Last week, supermarket chain Scotmid Co-operative raised £345,000 for Childline. The money raised will allow us to answer 85,000 calls, emails and online messages from young people who need someone to listen to them.
The issues faced by children may have changed in the past 30 years but the need for Childline is greater than ever.
Their misery was secret and private, whereas today suffering is played out on Facebook