By Gabriella Payne
During these difficult times that we find ourselves living in, anxiety and worry are rife in the community among people both young and old – but a cute, crafty kindness project is wiggling its way into the hearts of many.
‘Worry worms’ are beginning to pop up in little hidey-holes across Australia thanks to a feel-good movement started by the ‘random acts of crochet kindness’ Facebook page, and Lang Lang is the latest town to gain a few of these friendly knitted critters.
The idea is that local crocheters create a little worm and hide it around town for others to find, with an accompanying note that reads, “I’m a little worry worm, keep me close, keep me near, when a worry pops in your head, hold me tight, whisper in my ear, I will take away your worry, so you have nothing left to fear!”
Having discovered the worry worm movement, Lang Lang local Fleur McGregor reached out to the community and asked if anyone with crochet skills could make one for her young son, who would love a little worm to whisper his worries to.
“My son has ADHD and anxiety among other things, and I really wanted to be able to give one to him so he could express to someone or something his feelings,” Ms McGregor said.
“I tried crocheting before, but I’m not very good with my hands doing little intricate things like that,” she explained – which is when she turned to the local community for help, and locals were more than happy to oblige.
Another Mum from Poowong, Kate Matthyssen, saw Ms McGregor’s post and decided to put her crochet skills to the test and make her first ever worry worm for Ms McGregor’s son.
“I’m always crocheting and I love new projects,” Ms Matthyssen said.
Running her own craft business, ‘Katie’s Creations’ and having kids with special needs herself, Ms Matthyssen said that she thought the worry worm idea was “very cute”, but also worked as an important sensory tool for people of all ages to express their feelings.
“The worm actually takes care of the worries, it’s an empowerment tool almost,” Ms Matthyssen said.
“It’s a good sensory tool because you can play with it, stretch it out and it’s little, so it’s got a lot of purposes – but the main purpose is to take your worries away.”
Ms Matthyssen said she knew how important projects like this were for kids with special needs, as she had sadly lost her eldest son, who had autism and a terminal illness, five years ago.
“For me it’s very much keeping his memory alive and doing this stuff to honour him,” she said.
“He was that kid who needed the weird and wonderful things and I had to create those things, because shop bought stuff would send him into a sensory overload.”
On Saturday 26 June, Ms Matthyssen stopped by the McGregor’s house in Lang Lang to drop off her homemade worry worms – one for Ms McGregor and one for her 6 year old son, and their reaction was priceless.
“I’ll definitely be making more and handing them out,” Ms Matthyssen said.
“We need to make it known that it’s ok to not be a superhuman and it’s ok to need some extra help – so I would love to see them popping up in kids hands around town, that would be fantastic!” she said.
Ms Matthyssen and Ms McGregor both said the experience had been fantastic, Ms McGregor’s son was over the moon with his new buddy and they encouraged everyone to give worry worm making a go.
