It’s a funny feeling, thinking you’re the only one trying to keep everything orderly. But then you hear a bit of news from a faraway place that makes you understand perhaps other mothers—and even whole governments!—are thinking the very same thing.

It seems, from tomorrow, a lovely and orderly change is coming to a big country called Australia. My mind isn't a Clever one like Owl's, so I don't understand all the ins and outs, not one bit.

They call it "social media," and it sounds to me like a very busy and noisy digital forest where children spend far too much of their time. Well, the adults in charge there, their leader—a Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, I think the name was—have decided to put their foot down in the gentlest, firmest way. From midnight on Wednesday, a new law means that no child under the age of sixteen is allowed to use it. Not at all!

Can you imagine? It’s the very first law like it in the whole wide world. They figured that a whopping 86 percent of children there, some as young as little Roo, were already using it, and thought, "Now, that just won't do." So, they’re taking back a bit of power from the big companies that run these platforms. And they mean business!

If those companies don’t follow the new rule and keep the little ones out, they could be fined up to A$49.5 million. That’s enough money to buy more honey than Pooh could ever dream of. The Prime Minister said it was the day when Australian families were “taking back power from these big tech companies,” which I quite agree with. It's not the companies' choice any more than it's Roo's choice to take his Extract of Malt. It’s simply what must be done, you see, when it’s for their own good.

Of course, there are always worries. I heard one sweet girl, a fourteen-year-old student named Annie Wang, warn that this new rule might make some young people feel isolated, and perhaps make things harder for those who are already feeling a bit down. My heart went out to her—that’s a kind and thoughtful thing for a young one to worry about. It shows she has a good heart, I think.

But as for me, well… I believe that sometimes, what feels like isolation is just safety. Why, Tigger thought living with Roo and me was simply un-bounce-able at first, but he soon learned that a warm, safe place to land is the best thing in the world. Sometimes a mother’s job is simply to say "no," not to be cross, you understand, but to make sure you’re there for all the small, happy moments that come after.

It all makes me wonder if the big, busy world is finally learning a little something we’ve always known in the Hundred Acre Wood. Sometimes, the best thing you can do for a small animal is to button up your pocket, keep them safe and sound, and give them a little strengthening medicine. It’s about creating a calm, tidy space where they can grow without all the bumps and frights.

These big new rules in that faraway country are, to me, a great, big, motherly hug of a rule. A collective "We'll see, dear," that really means, "No, it's time to come home now where it's safe." And I think that's a wonderful thing.

Now, if you'll excuse me, all this thinking has made me realize it's high time for Roo's little dose.

What’s all the hubbub, you ask?

Well, it’s just like this! It seems—no, it’s a FACT!—that Notre Dame and another team, Miami, both had the most TERRIFIC season! I mean, they both won 10 times! Can you believe it?! (Well, they lost 2, but that’s not the bouncy part!) And at the very start, Miami beat Notre Dame, and oh, what a nail-biter that was! A real pounce-and-catch kind of game!

But then! Oh, the suspicerousness of it all! The Conference, led by some fellow named Jim Phillips, started being very ricky-diculus! First, they put up pictures everywhere! ‘LOOK AT MIAMI!’ they said. ‘Aren’t they better than Notre Dame!’ And then! THEN! The what-cha-call-it ACC Network showed that same silly game over and over and OVER! A dozen times! That’s a whole lot of replaying! It’s like Roo and me trying to bounce our way through a mud puddle! Splish, splash, splish, splash, and not getting anywhere!

But here comes the big, NON-BOUNCEABLE part!

So today, this Pete Bevacqua fellow went on that loud-radio-thing and said he was “mystified”! Which is just a big word for being all confused and wobbly in the head!

He said the Conference was taking “shots at” their partner! Taking shots! The very idea!

But then came the really big news. Pete said they did ‘permanent damage to the relationship’!

PERMANENT DAMAGE!

That’s not like when I accidentally bounce Eeyore into the river and he’s just a little damp! Oh, no! This is PERMANENT! A very, very, VERY long time! All this fuss! And for what? Just to help Miami get to a big game! While their partner, Notre Dame, is left feeling all gloomy. Poor Notre Dame! As gloomy as Eeyore on a rainy, no-bouncing day!

What a ricky-diculus, non-bouncy mess! It’s not nearly as much fun as a good, clean pounce, I tell you!

TTFN

"Oh, Pooh Bear," he said in a squeaky sort of voice. "I was just at the market, and I saw one of Christopher Robin's friends at one of those Bleep-Bloop machines—you know, the ones where you do the work yourself? Well, he just put a tin of biscuits in his bag and walked off without making it go Bleep!"

Piglet trembled a little. "He didn't look as though his rumbly tumbly was any rumblier than mine, Pooh. But it made me feel very, very sad inside. And a sad thing inside is a very sad thing, indeed."

It seems Piglet’s friend isn’t the only one. Some people, who are very thoughtful and do a great deal of counting—far more than Pooh Bear could ever manage—asked ever-so-many people about this very thing. And would you believe it? What they found was this: for every ten friends you might meet, almost three of them have taken something from a Bleep-Bloop machine without making it Bleep! That’s more than a quarter! Oh, dear.

It makes a Bear of Very Little Brain think very hard indeed. Why are all these people taking things? A clever fellow who thinks a lot about pennies and pounds says it's just because people are still "struggling with high prices."

And that, I think, is it. It’s a rumbly in the tumbly that won’t go away, no matter how many times you pat it. The people in the big human place said so, too. Well, nearly half of them said they just couldn't afford the things you need. Like bread, and milk, and perhaps hunny, if you're lucky to have a rumbly tumbly.

You see, the shops are very fond of those Bleep-Bloop machines. A smart man once told me it’s because there’s less work for them to do, and some people like them for being fast. Faster, easier. Beep, boop, and on your way.

But just like a Hunny Pot left all alone on a picnic blanket, it is just so… there. All by itself. You have that one moment, all alone with the Bleep-Bloop machine, where a lonely little carrot looks so very orange and lovely. And you are so very, very hungry, and you think, "Oh, perhaps no one will notice if this one carrot doesn't get its Bleep."

So now, the shops are getting fussy. Very fussy indeed, a bit like Rabbit when you sit on his favorite cushion by mistake. They’re worried about all the things walking out without a proper Bleep. To stop it, some are taking the Bleep-Bloops away altogether! Or putting up more of those little cameras that watch you with a single, unblinking eye. And some are even asking people to stand and watch, to make sure every little thing gets its turn to go Beep. Which is sensible, I suppose. But it is all very sad.

It just makes a Bear want to go back to his house and sit with his hunny pot, just to know that when my tummy rumbles, I have something to make it feel quiet. It is a terrible, awful feeling to have an empty cupboard and a rumbly that won’t stop. Perhaps, if we were all more like Piglet—well, and perhaps not Eeyore, but certainly Piglet—looking out for our friends and making sure no one's Hunny Pot was empty, then the Bleep-Bloop machines wouldn't be quite so tempting. A full tumbly makes a happy heart. And that, I think, is a fact that needs no counting at all. Oh, bother. Now I need a smackerel.