Anyone for a reflective diary?

When I was a student and pretty much forced to keep a reflective diary I vowed I would carry it on once I qualified. I didn't keep it up, not only did I not keep it up, I didn't even start it. From the day I was no longer required to keep a reflective diary I stopped doing it.

Starting this bog (that was a typo, but I'm keeping it in as it amused me) has caused me to ponder on whether it constitutes a reflective diary of sorts. I'm only 4 posts in, but it does have the same feel about it as back in my student days. So far the main difference is that I am not confident enough to really say what I think. I did as a student, my diary was truly reflective, warts and all. If I was ever scared or worried I wrote it, if I didn't understand something I said so, it did me no harm and I actually received praise for my candor. I'm nowhere near achieving that level of confidence with this yet. I had a little interest in this blog and already I feel the slight weight of responsibility,  don't want to offend or say the wrong thing. I'm quite an outspoken chap, sometimes without much forethought, this can land me in trouble, but I normally manage to get myself out it. That's not so easy when what you say is in 'print', I can't claim to be misunderstood or misquoted. But I feel the 'real' me fighting its way to the surface, hence this post I guess. Also this post may serve as a slight warning to anyone who is reading my blog (is anyone reading this?) that I may, in the not too distant future,  start to stick my neck out a little. 

For now though I am playing it quite safe. But I want to say one thing, I'm not even sure if its controversial really. I want to say I'm sick of hearing that my profession is in crisis when something bad happens such as the recent Saville revelations. We work in a profession which by its very nature is dealing with risk every day. Every day we make decisions about children's lives which involve us balancing risk, inevitably we get it wrong sometimes, the results of this can be catastrophic. Let me make it clear I am not seeking to be an apologist for poor risk assessment, but what I am saying these mistakes which lead to tragic consequences are not themselves an indication that our profession is in crisis. The dangerous and simplistic attacks which follow tragedies do not end up making children safer. I believe they lead to defensive decision making which can have severely adverse effects on the outcomes for the vast majority of children we deal with who are not at risk of significant harm. Serious Case Reviews are essential following such tragedies as they allow us to learn from our mistakes, claiming we are in crisis is not essential. I do not believe for one moment that should some of the pressure heaped upon by the 'crisis tag' be removed, we would suddenly play fast and loose with safeguarding issues.