Duchess of Cambridge suggests teens should be taught parenting skills
The Duchess of Cambridge has suggested teenagers could be taught parenting and relationship skills to help them raise mentally and socially resilient children.
Kate’s comment came as she announced she was setting up a panel of experts to examine how best to help the nation break the “inter-generational cycle of disadvantage” that sees youngsters with emotional and psychological problems go on to bring up offspring with issues.
Speaking at a symposium, convened by her Royal Foundation to look at the issue of early years intervention, the royal told delegates at the Royal Society for Medicine in central London that the earlier people intervened in a child’s development the better.
She said: “We all know how important childhood is; and how the early years shape us for life.
“We also know how negative the downstream impact can be, if problems emerging at the youngest age are overlooked, or ignored.
“It is therefore vital that we nurture children through this crucial, early period.”
Kate went on to say: “We do need mental health support in primary schools before the biological changes and academic pressures of adolescence kick in. We also need a focus on parenting and family support, so that parents feel able to get their children ‘school ready’, and are confident that they themselves can cope with the mental and emotional needs of their own children.”
With Kate due to give birth in April the group is likely to report back to the royal sometime after her maternity break.
Professor Peter Fonagy, chief executive of the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, described the duchess as the person “who has done more to turn the tide of stigma around mental health more than any other single individual that I could name”.
He added: “It is vitally important to work together, to form a community that cares about early childhood.”
Voluntary organisations and statutory services had been divided for too long, he said.