Esther Rantzen: Decline of the housewife leaves children with no-one to talk to

The decline of the housewife and the addiction to being busy is leading a generation of children to depression and anxiety, Esther Rantzen has warned. 

The Childline founder said that children have no-one to turn to because their parents are constantly working and have no time to talk to them about their problems. 

She said that her own mother described herself "with pride" as a housewife. 

"A clever woman, she never had the chance to test her talent in the workplace and, of course, I have no desire to turn the clock back to that time but, as her child I always knew that she was focussed on us, her daughters, that we came first," she said. 

Writing for the Daily Telegraph the TV presenter and campaigner said that she speaks to children in the course of her work who can't talk to their parents because they are never around. 

She said one teenage boy who was suffering "very serious problems" told her his mother was "so tired she can’t talk to me". 

She added: "I asked if the weekends might give them the chance to talk. 'She works in a shop,' he told me, 'She never has a day off.'"

Speaking to mark the launch of new NSPCC figures showing that Childline carried out 22,456 counselling sessions in 2016 with children as young as 10 who were suffering with suicidal thoughts, up 15 per cent from the previous year, she warned that "hectic lifestyles" were endangering child mental health. 

"We’re all so addicted to being busy; could these hectic lifestyles be depriving young people of something they need as much as oxygen; attention and time?"

Figures released last month by the Office for National Statistics showed that 73.7 per cent of women with dependent children are now in work, an increase from 62 per cent in 1996. 

The NSPCC said that suicide was the third-most common reason girls contacted the charity and the fifth most-common reason for boys. 

In 2016/17 Childline carried out a record 2,061 counselling sessions with a child who was classed as actively suicidal - a significant increase from the 1,610 recorded in 2014/15 and a nine per cent rise from the 1,893 recorded in 2015/16.

Many of the children who contacted the service had also experienced issues such as sexual abuse, eating disorders and homophobia. 

NSPCC CEO Peter Wanless said: “We must face the painful reality that many young people feel so overwhelmed by their problems they have considered taking their own, precious lives. We have never seen figures like these before and they are a blunt wake up call."

Dame Esther Rantzen set up counselling service Childline in 1986 to help children suffering abuse or neglect. 

She said that when the helpline was established suicidal children were normally "being hurt by someone". 

"Now young people tell us they are overwhelmed by mental health issues taking them to the brink of suicide. We must discover why so many of our young people feel so isolated they turn to Childline because they believe no one else cares about them," she said.