Kate reaches out to parents
THE DUCHESS of Cambridge has urged parents and children to find an outlet for their thoughts and feelings to cope with lockdown pressures.
To mark Children’s Mental Healthweek, which begins tomorrow, she has recorded a video message highlighting the need for parents to look after their own wellbeing.
Kate, 39, has made it her mission to encourage a national conversation that helps improve the life chances of every child in Britain by focusing on the vital first five years.
Last year she commissioned research to accompany a landmark survey on the early years, which found the majority of parents struggled to make time for their own needs.
In the video she says: “This year’s Children’s Mental Healthweek is all about expressing yourself – about finding creative ways in which to share your thoughts, ideas and feelings.
“So whether that’s through photography, through art, through drama, through music or poetry, it’s finding those things that make you feel good about yourself.”
The Duchess has admitted struggling with home schooling her children – Prince George, seven,
Princess Charlotte, five, and two-year-old Prince Louis – and to cutting their hair in lockdown.
She is an enthusiastic amateur photographer and enjoys art with her young family.
It was her idea to launch, with Princeswilliam and Harry, the Headstogether campaign in 2016, encouraging people of all ages, but especially the young, to help remove the stigma around mental health problems such as anxiety and depression. She has encouraged parents to do the same. In her message, she goes on: “And while this is Children’s Mental Healthweek there has never been a more important time to talk about parental wellbeing and mental health too.
“Last year you told me just how important this was, that many of us find it hard to prioritise.
“This is a hugely challenging time for us all so please look after yourself too.”
She added: “Find those ways in which to share your thoughts and your feelings or find someone to talk to because we really do need to be the very best versions of ourselves for the children in our care.”