Bit of a juxtaposition there, eh?
So, on Tuesday night I was invited by the lovely people at Mumsnet to attend a function up in London to find out a bit more about the charity Railway Children and to consume my own weight in cocktail sausages at no.10 Downing Street at a do hosted by Samantha Cameron.
I posted back in December about Railway Children who are a charity who try and support young people who have run away from home or, preferably, prevent them doing so in the first place. I’ve never run away from home and with my son only being two, it’s thankfully not been an issue that has impacted my own life too much. However, as The Husband runs the local foodbank/ homeless drop in centre / sometimes night shelter / anything else it needs to be, I have quite a bit of understanding about what can happen when people become homeless, and it’s really, really not nice and really not the kind of thing that I would wish on anyone. Certainly not a child. And people do prey on the homeless, particularly on homeless and vulnerable children in a way that makes my stomach turn. Not nice stuff, but true all the same.
So, after the typical Kate style panics: will the Cameron’s have the heating on high enough or will I need to take a thick cardie? (It was fine) Will it be one of those houses where you have to take off your shoes when you go in? (No, although it would have been ace if it was) Will I get lost finding it? (Obviously) I was on my way.
First stop was a nice hotel with very nice cakes where I met some very nice Mumsnetters and the very nice Mumsnet staff as well as charities that Railway Children work with. Now there are two facts I learnt here that I want to concentrate on, so that even if you skim read the rest of this I want you to really concentrate now, ok?!
1) Every 5 minites a child runs away from home in the UK. That’s every five minites. Probably the same amount of time it will take you to read this.
2) 30% of those are twelve years old or younger. 30 percent! I don’t know why, but I thought of this very much of being a teenage thing. Twelve is young. Younger than twelve? Away from home? I had to stop typing there for a moment. It totally does my head in. It makes me feel sad, sick, emotional, angry. Especially thinking that two thirds of these children aren’t even reported missing. That one in six will sleep rough.
So yes, the cakes were nice, the cocktail sausages were nice (there were posher nibbles I hasten to add, but I like to imagine that cocktail sausages are the Cameron’s version of we’re all in it together austerity style drinks parties), but more important than the nice carpets, nice art, more important that who I met, saw, shook the hand of or what the toilets were like is that one every five minutes stat and 30% being 12 or younger. Frankly, it feels a bit daft to talk about cocktail parties when you think of kids sleeping rough.
Half of all British parents never discuss running away with their children. We talk sex, divorce, drugs, but avoid this one. And talking is the best way we can know what our kids are thinking.
The next night, while my son was getting ready for bed I thought about this and decided that if I was going to talk about this to you, then I had to start talking about it to my own son too.
“Please don’t ever run away from home.” I told him. “I love you and no matter what the matter is I am your mummy and I will always be here to help you solve it.”
“More toothpaste.” He replied, but at least the conversation has been started.
BIG NOTE!!! If you comment on this post then Aviva will donate £2 to Railway Children and help them to help more young people who have run away from home, or prevent it happening to others. I will also love you forever (in a platonic way though, ok?!) x
Thanks for posting on this important issue…
And thank you for ensuring that another £2 goes toward supporting it!
Great that you highlighting this important topic.
Thank you 🙂
Important to start as early as possible with kids – the more included they feel within their family unit, the more chance we all have of them continuing to talk to us when some of the bleaker things in life come knocking on their door. Great blog.
Cheers, yes two may be a bit young to start the chat, but better too young than too late!
Awesome post as ever Kate. Xxx I’ll spread the word… Kerching… £2. Done. Xxx
Thank you mel, every bit of cash helps!
Wow! Those stats are shocking. Great posting Kate- well done xxx
Cheers, and of course thank you my lovely for commenting!!
Railway Children is one of the charities being supported by Girlguiding this year as part of its Girls in Action initiative. There is some useful stuff here: https://www.girlguiding.org.uk/about_us/girls_in_action/railway_children.aspx which might give some ideas about how to broach the issues with children as young as 5.
That’s really helpful, thank you 🙂 LOVE the guides!
Thought provoking stuff, and a topic to discuss with my 2 boys. Great post x
Yep, never too young either!
Wow those stats are scary. Great post as always Kate xx
My favourite of all the #10 write ups. And good on your family for helping with the homeless drop in centre. Nicola http://homemadekids.wordpress.com
So tragic, the
30% is a real shocker 🙁
Kate, even though I don’t have any children yet, and sometimes I act like a bit of a kid myself (living back at home at 26 will do that to a person!), I couldn’t help but read this post. I was thinking about all of my friend’s children and how awful if would be if any of then ran away. My first job on my list of things to do today…sharing this post! Oh and get you…Number 10!! X
A great informative post about such an important topic and an amazing charity.
Very sobering reading – thanks for highlighting this, Kate.
Consider the conversation started…well done you for highlighting the gravity of the issue
I tried to run away from home when I was 8 – my Mum wanted me to take some medicine I didnt like. I only got to the end of the road but I remember vividly the lonliness and fear. My Mum cared about me I am lucky. Imagine not being missed! How terrible is that.
I remember your post about this back in December. The statistics are really shocking 🙁