It's a scene familiar to so many parents - a small child with its fingers in its ears shouting "La La La" as it tries to drown out unwelcome words from its mother or father. "Time for bed" is a good way to provoke it and I'm sure you can think of others.

As the child grows up it grows out of the habit, at least you would hope so. But recently there have been many examples of the adult equivalent. It began with the internet trolls who think that a stream of insults from someone hiding behind the anonymity of a web name can drown out what their victim is saying.

The President of the United States is more sophisticated, but his shout of "Fake news, fake news" whenever the real world doesn't accord with his ideal world is still "La la la".

Some Brexiteers have developed a variety of terms. They started with "We won the referendum, shut up, shut up, shut up" and have progressed through "you're trying to stop Brexit, shut up " to a Donald-Trump-like "scare story, scare story" whenever anyone suggests that Britain won't be a land of milk and honey outside the European Union.

I can guarantee someone will write in similar terms complaining about me when this column is published. Some people, young or old, just don't want to hear anything that disagrees with what they think.

But blocking out unpleasant news doesn't stop it from being real or true. The mother trying to get her child to stop playing and go to bed is acting in the child's best interests, despite what the child may think. She is not trying to stop her child playing permanently; the child will play a lot better once it has had a good night's sleep, particularly if it is a tired fratchety child.

It's the same with the "Shut up shut up" Brexiteers. The European Union is deeply embedded in our everyday life, our culture and economy in ways we are still finding out. There are bound to be major problems ahead as we disentangle ourselves.

Take the nursing shortage in the NHS. European Union nurses currently working in the NHS are, not unnaturally, worried about their future here post-Brexit. The Lords gave them hope by insisting on guarantees for them and the Government whipped its MPs to remove those guarantees.  Many European nurses are already heading back across the Channel.

At the same time, the £4,000 student bursary that used to support British nursing trainees has been replaced by a student loan and as anyone could have predicted, the result was that applications by British would-be nurses have plummeted by a quarter.

So the NHS recruiters are now looking to the Far East to fill the gaping lack of nurses at a cost of £5,000 per nurse, including bringing their English up to a suitable level. Quite what that will do to the Brexiteers' promises of less immigration post-Brexit, goodness only knows.

A little bit of common sense thinking in advance could have prevented the whole situation.

That's just one example that came to light earlier this week. There are many more and their numbers will grow exponentially in the weeks and months ahead.

So this is my message to those Brexiteers who call criticism of Brexit "scare stories". Just because they don't agree with your vision doesn't mean that they don't have merit. Have a good long look at those "scare stories" and see if there are ways of preventing them from happening or minimising their effects. Please stop assuming that all those less than happy with Brexit are intent on sabotaging it and therefore should be ignored. Just like the mother with the small child, voices of dissent may help rather than hinder.

As we start the long road of Brexit deal negotiations this country will need above all to listen to people who warn of potholes and hazards ahead.