Senior social worker Christina Appadoo had just settled down to man Tinkle Friend, the telephone helpline for primary-school children run by the Singapore Children's Society (SCS).

The caller, a soft-spoken nine-year-old, said she was alone at home and needed 'someone to talk to'. Mum and dad were away at work and she was an only child.

'If today was not a holiday, I'd be at school having fun with my friends,' she said, referring to the break schoolchildren get on their special day.

Did she have any Children's Day wish? Her reply: 'I wish I was not alone.'

That is a refrain that is getting increasingly common, if statistics from Tinkle Friend are a gauge.

The helpline was lauded by Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, last Friday night as a 'shining example' of how the SCS is reaching out to children here.

About half the yearly average of 4,000 calls the helpline has been getting the past couple of years are from kids who say they are lonely and bored, up from about one in three barely five years ago.

While many children do call in response to friendship woes, study stress or even family feuds, most simply want a listening ear.

Ms Appadoo added: 'A common complaint is that parents work long hours. Sometime back, a little girl called me saying she was forbidden from calling mum at work unless she had something 'urgent' to say.'

While many youngsters have grandparents or even maids for company, these folk can never quite substitute for a parent.

It is not only lonely children who are reaching out. Parents can get stressed too.

This growing parent-child disconnect has led some schools to set up small teams of 'parent-peer mentors' who can help others navigate rough patches on their parental journey, said Mr Augustine Koh, 40, who serves at one such mentor group at a Sengkang school.

At least once every fortnight, Mr Koh says, he gets a call or a message from worried parents seeking help to communicate better with children they often see only at the end of a hard workday.

Parents are also asking for similar help from counsellors at the SCS, said senior social worker Noor Sida Abdullah.

This was one of the reasons that led the society to launch a series of parenting courses in February last year. These help parents take an interest not only in their children's studies but also in their friends and hobbies. Even the use of body language - like direct eye contact - is explained as an important communication tool.

Software engineer Walker Zheng, 38, signed up for one such eight-hour course this year after 'constant stress' at home from kids who neglected their homework and fought with each other.

He and his bank officer wife have two children: James, nine, and Leona, six.

'After going through the course, I realised that a major problem was that my wife and I simply did not spend enough time with our kids,' said Mr Zheng, who, like his wife, would often put in 12 hours each workday.

Shortly after the course, Mr Zheng asked for a change of department at his workplace, and now tries to get home by 6pm.

The family eats dinner together more often now and Mr Zheng makes it a point to praise his children's schoolwork. His children are doing much better at school now and also fight less.

'In the end, all they needed was more time and attention,' he said.

Bored? Lonely? Need a friend? Call Tinkle Friend on 1800-2744788

radhab@sph.com.sg