What worries you? Does the worry consume you? Or is it the little niggling worries that pull you down making you feel anxious? At a young age children worry about a lot of things – getting to sleep, monsters under the bed, wetting their beds, mummy leaving them etc.

Sometimes these worries follow you like a creature. So the idea from illustrator Anna Walker developed as she scribbled her worry thoughts onto paper and created a masterpiece, called Mr Huff.

Starting as a black cloud Mr Huff grows into a life sized creature trailing a little boy as he experiences bumps in his day. Bill tries to escape it but Mr Huff grows. This picture story has won a special award for Children’s Book Week and allowed Anna Walker the excitement and recognition that she proudly deserves. Her creative artistic skills shine in her wood block printing, etching, collage and ink with watercolour drawings.

It is Wellbeing week here at the College as we look out for the needs of others. Choosing to have a conversation, smile or engage with someone who we would not ordinarily do so is the aim of showing kindness and concern. Behind every student face and smile can be worries that torment and weaken confidence and personality. Assignment pressure, getting enough sleep, motivation, anger and so on adds to the picture of the BUMPS in our day. Those small bumps can grow to become gigantic mountains if not acknowledged and supported in love.

When it comes to worry remember people don’t think about you and what you do as much as you may think.

Also why be in a “huff” or bad mood when you could think about the good side of things, for example, moving to a new school, automatically sends worry thoughts to a child; instead turn it around and consider some of the good things about moving.

Like it says above, “he had a bad feeling about the day”, instead think and say, “what good can come out of the day?”

Recently I read an article about ” letting kids be kids”. It reflects on the fact that we are in the age of the helicopter gunship parent – someone who hovers near their child to launch pre-emptive strikes against any chance of disappointment. An example of allowing the six year old to be picked on, will he be safe in a camp dorm away from home, will he remember to brush his teeth – niggling worries that rise to the surface with parents about their child.

A three year study of parental fears conducted by VicHealth and La Trobe University – entitled Beyond the Bubble Wrap found that almost 48 % of parents of children aged nine to 15 are worried about their child’s safety when they are not with an adult because a stranger might approach them, and around one third of parents avoid situations where their child goes without an adult, because they are fearful they would be approached by a stranger.

So it seems perhaps that parents don’t allow kids to suffer setbacks. In fact, they try to regulate them against any struggle in their life.

I would like to hear your thoughts about this issue and whether you have some helpful solutions.