Straining out a gnat

Once more, we are straining out a gnat whilst the camel is allowed through to putrify the drink. Today, as reported in The Independent, famous British children’s authors have put their collective foot down and will refuse to register on the forthcoming database for those who come into contact with young people. Nor will they pay for their own CRB clearance, which they say is insulting.

I must declare an interest here because I am also a children’s author who takes classes every now and then. And I must confess to having felt relieved and lucky that I already have clearance paid for because of my counselling work.

But it is certainly an ill-thought-out scheme – authors never work without teachers present, so the rule is guarding against a gnat, as I say, whilst the camel in some poorly performing local authority is getting away with ruining a child’s mental health because no one intervenes.

But what is the meaning behind the frenetic activity in high places to ensure that no single element of risk is left?

If we never take a risk, we never learn our limits. If we never learn our limits, we are doomed to live in anxiety about whether or not we can manage something and whether our perception of an event is realistic or not.

I came across a training leaflet today (see here for the same information on their website) claiming that anxiety is about to replace depression as the primary mental health problem in the UK (it already is in the USA). Certainly this frantic activity about protecting children to the extreme is modelling something that our children are latching onto: that the world is unmanageable by ourselves, needs controlling by someone else and is bad through and through. And that’s bad news.

The organisation health-assist.net puts it like this:

“Anxiety is a body’s reaction to a perceived, anticipated or imagined danger or threatening situation. Normal anxiety can be useful, helping us to avoid dangerous situations, making us alert and giving us the motivation to deal with problems. But if you have an anxiety disorder, this normally helpful emotion can do just the opposite – it can keep you from coping and can disrupt your daily life.”

We seem hell-bent on fabricating anxiety rather than tolerating an element of risk. But if we do have worried kids to deal with in therapy, then WorryWiseKids is a good place to head. Try the page on CBT treatment. But let’s campaign to leave author visits untouched – kids absolutely love having writers in to take a lesson. If this new rule puts them off visiting schools, the only losers will be our children’s imagination and mental health.