Letter of the Day

Kids’ scars run deep

IT is tragic “hundreds of children wanted to die” in this lockdown as an Australian Human Rights Commission report has revealed (“Alarm over lonely kids”, 15/9).

Moreover, that one in 20 kids complained about violence and abuse in their family is shocking, highlighting how lockdown has affected families behind closed doors in suburbia so dangerously.

Will the lockdown legacy be a generation of young people unable to live happily at home?

Parents are obviously hurting with unemployment, business closures, financial distress and the fear of contracting COVID, but our young are caught in a heartbreaking web of pain and suffering not of their own doing, thus making it more difficult to comprehend and overcome later.

Without a stable and sensitive family environment, these children could soon increase the homeless numbers on our streets.

Daniel Andrews needs to read the AHRC report as a matter of urgency. He must end the misery and loneliness of this lockdown now before his millions of dollars in grants are wasted because parents are so mentally unwell they cannot work productively down the track.

Superficial wounds may heal quite quickly, but more profound psychological scars can last a very long time.