ABSTRACT
The new affluence of the 1960s and changing attitudes to work and leisure brought about a more child-centred family structure in Britain. These changes dealt a final blow to the idea that children should be seen and not heard. The development of counselling and mentoring in schools and that of helplines, such as ChildLine in 1986, indicates increasing acceptance that listening respectfully to children’s feelings and experience is a source of healing, and that it can be offered by trained volunteers, as well as by more formally qualified professionals.
