By AINSLEY THOMSON
Nearly 700 youngsters a day are calling a new children's counselling phoneline.
The most common problems discussed are bullying and relationships with friends.
More than 169,000 callers between the age of five and 18 have rung the phoneline, called What's Up, since it began last September. The Kids Help Foundation Trust runs the service. Executive director Grant Taylor says the average age of callers is 11, and 59 per cent are 12 or younger.
The most common call for all age groups is about relationships with peers.
"Other children and their relationships with them are the most important and central part of most children's lives," says Mr Taylor, who has over 20 years of experience as a clinical psychologist.
Bullying is the second most common reason for calls, although among pre-teens, it tops the list.
Mr Taylor says the types of bullying vary, but a around 30 per cent involves repeated incidents.
Next comes relationships with family members, and then relationships with girlfriends and boyfriends, which Mr Taylor says is particularly important for teenagers.
Around 8 per cent of the calls from teenagers concern pregnancy.
"Both boys and girls call, often not knowing what to do when faced with pregnancy," says Mr Taylor.
Twenty-eight per cent of those callers rang after receiving an abusive response or were afraid their parents' reaction.
Mr Taylor says when adults think of children's problems they tend to focus on serious drug and alcohol abuse, sexual abuse and suicide.
These are serious problems, Mr Taylor says, but fortunately they are infrequent. Most of the calls are about everyday issues, not the crisis subjects that make headlines.
But the service receives several calls a week in which fears for the safety of a child or other person are raised. When this happens the service seeks a third party such as the police or mental health workers.
What's Up has 15 counsellors who are available from noon to midnight seven days a week.
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