Strictly’s Kate: Why I want my daughter to be a failure every day
SHE’S a loving mum who dotes on her daughter – but every day Strictly Come Dancing star Kate Silverton asks her six-year-old Clemency: ‘How did you fail today?’
In an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday, the BBC newsreader said she believes experiencing failure is crucial for a child’s emotional development.
Ms Silverton, 48, who is training to become a volunteer child counsellor, said: ‘I insist on my daughter failing. I ask her, “What have you done wrong today?” I tell her, “You are not trying hard enough if you haven’t failed.” ’
She said it was important to encourage children to compete and try different things that might be out of their comfort zone, such as boxing or climbing. ‘We should nudge them in the right direction. Do you fancy going to a boxing class? Shall we go climbing this weekend? Did you like it? No, fine, let’s try something else.
‘Risk is human nature – we should not be scared of it. We should embrace it,’ she said.
Ms Silverton, whose husband Mike Heron is a former Royal Marine commando, also has a four-year-old son, Wilbur.
She does not let her children anywhere near social media and she is careful about what they watch on TV.
Looking back fondly to how she grew up, the newsreader believes children benefit from having a parent at home with them. She said: ‘I come from quite a traditional background. My dad was a London cabbie, so he went out to earn the crust, and my mother was a stay-athome mum.
‘I remember feeling how lucky I was to be able to have a mum to come home to, whereas many of my friends were latchkey kids.
‘My parents were incredibly hands-on. I suppose because of that I wanted to give my children that.’
She is taking her counselling course with the children’s mental health charity Place2Be, which she began this year and will resume when Strictly is over.
Last night Ms Silverton transformed herself into Jessica Rabbit and performed a foxtrot for Strictly’s movie week.