Call me old-fashioned if you like, but the other day I was watching my local UK news on Catch Up and I came across a news item that raised a level of scorn in me that even surprised me. Please remember that I work as an Educator / Teacher / Coach, so I do have some idea of what I am talking about.

So what was it that irked me?

The news item simply said that Mental Health support will be offered to all pupils when transitioning from Primary to Secondary School at the age of 11. 

Now, before you dismiss my "anti-attitude" let me qualify what I am saying. Mental Health is important and there are definite cases when this is a necessity. An obvious example would be to provide that support for somebody who is autistic / on the spectrum as these particular individuals find change and adaption to new and unfamiliar environments particularly challenging. Case by case there are many other examples that could be provided.

However, most of us do not fit into these specific circumstances and what it means is more molly-coddling by the nanny state.

Back in my day you simply had to get on with it.

Most of us were nervous, daunted even and this wasn't helped by the influence of such children's programmes as Grange Hill, a school based soap which showed incidences of bullying and intimidation, younger children having their heads pushed into toilets which are then flushed and other such things which made it a really scary place.

We were given one day with the older kids being absent to familiarise ourselves with the school in terms of its layout, our timetables, expectations and rules and all that kind of stuff that we needed to know. I remember the school looking huge (it wasn't particularly - it was just bigger than the Primary School). 

And then the next day it was just sink or swim. 

While acknowledging the value of support I really do believe that it is more important that we build the necessary resources and resilience in our children to enable them to get on. To over-protect them now is to make them vulnerable and unable to cope later on when they enter the pressures of adult life. The fact is that nobody will be there to bail them out or they will end up running to a psychologist every five minutes because they have faced a difficult situation at work when all they needed was to dig deep.

How can such people dig deep when they have not been taught how to?

I am reminded of what one of my female commentators from my peer group said when reviewing my #MeToo article. Please bear in mind this was a female commentator!.

She said, back in the day we did stuff, we played it safe and looked after each other and enjoyed life. Sometimes we made mistakes which we regretted the next day ("I really shouldn't have got off with that guy" - an English phrase for the American "made out"), but you live and learn.

And this is just it and while any #MeToo behaviour is reprehensible and should be addressed the fact is that all too often it gets blown out of proportion particularly in cases of young people just doing what they do. Regret? Immaturity? Stupidity even? 

The sub-message to what she was saying was that we just got on with it, and having two sons and a daughter she has taken great effort to ensure that her children know how to behave and that centres on respecting others.

So to conclude, while I do believe support can in some cases be helpful we are in danger of long-term handicapping our young people and leaving them short on resources and resilience to be able to handle challenging situations.

As always stay safe and well my friends.