Nursery World - Take a listening brief to help a child in distress

By Kostadinka Grossmith, ChildLine counselling manager Listening to children is at the heart of what ChildLine is all about, and children often tell us that when they have a problem they would prefer to talk about it to someone they know - most often a parent or other family member, but also other trusted adults such as their keyworker or teaching assistant.

Listening to children is at the heart of what ChildLine is all about, and children often tell us that when they have a problem they would prefer to talk about it to someone they know - most often a parent or other family member, but also other trusted adults such as their keyworker or teaching assistant.

So as professionals working with young children, learning to communicate well with them is a vital skill that can never be ignored. However, it is often not easy to put theory into practice.

Children give ChildLine lots of different reasons why they have not felt able to talk to an adult in their life. They pinpoint factors such as being embarrassed, not wanting to worry the adult, being scared in case they get into trouble or feeling that adults are too busy to listen.

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