Focus on early years to prevent problems later, Duchess urges
THE Duchess of Cambridge says children must be taught to understand their emotions to prevent them turning to self-harm, addiction or suicide in later life, as she urged ministers to seize a “huge opportunity” to change Britain for the better.
The Duchess, who invited Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, and Will Quince, minister for families, to a roundtable to present research from her Centre for Early Childhood, called on them to “shape the future of our society” by focusing on the importance of early
childhood.
Teaching youngsters how to manage their emotions, she said, would help them avoid turning to dangerous coping strategies as adults.
She told the roundtable: “This is about the adults they will become and the society they will form.”
It was the Duchess’s first meeting on ministerial level about the subject, marking a step forward in her public campaigning.
The centre found that while 90 per cent of the public agree that the early years are important in shaping a person’s future, less than a fifth could identify the “unique importance” of the period from conception to the age of five. The Duchess delivered the opening address to the meeting at the Royal Institution in London, where guests included officials from the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Education. It is understood that the Duchess hopes to use her convening power to bring key departments and people together to improve outcomes for children.
In a short formal address, she made the case for preventing “some of today’s toughest social challenges such as homelessness, crime and addiction” by prioritising the first five years of children’s lives.
“The science is clear,” she said, “that from conception, our first five years has such a significant impact on our later life outcomes,”
“It’s when we learn how to form relationships, learn to love, empathise with others, and it is a period of life when the foundations are laid for our own mental and physical health. Together, we have a huge opportunity here to shape the future. But we are going to have to work holistically to build an ecosystem of early childhood support.”
Mr Javid said his department was investing in early intervention, but welcomed the chance for “every department in Government” to consider how they could contribute.
Mr Quince added that, while the importance of the early years had already been understood anecdotally, the “evidence-based approach” of new research could be “taken to the Treasury” to back it up. “Every parent wants to be the best possible parent they can be,” he said.
The Duchess added: “I am committed to this long term – it is going to take generations to change this landscape but I hope this is the start of change and it’s really exciting.”