Kate’s mission to give children a better start

THE Princess of Wales is launching a major campaign to highlight the “critical importance” the first five years of children’s lives have in shaping their future.

Ahead of its launch this week, Kate spoke candidly of how she is “absolutely determined” to change public perceptions of the importance of early childhood development.

The Princess’s crusade is being led through The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, which she founded in June 2021.

It is backed by a “remarkable” group of experts and “well-known faces from music, sport and television”.

In her impassioned statement of intent last night, she declares: “As a society, we currently spend much more of our time and energy on later life.” But she vows: “I am absolutely determined that this long-term campaign is going to change that.

“It will start by highlighting how we develop during early childhood and why these years matter so much in terms of shaping who we become.” Kate said the campaign will teach people how, “our experiences,

‘I really feel excited to start the journey’

relationships, and surroundings at that young age, shape the rest of our lives”.

The Royal Foundation’s mission statement reveals that “over the last decade” Kate has “spent time looking into how experiences in early childhood are often the root cause of today’s hardest social challenges, such as addiction, family breakdown, poor mental health, suicide and homelessness”.

Many of the experts working with her – in fields including neuroscience, psychology and perinatal psychiatry – are urging politicians to devote more resources to the issue.

At a Windsor Castle meeting last week with her eight-member advisory board, the Princess said: “One of the main key areas is how do we develop the social and emotional skills which are vital for later life?

“How do we better manage and regulate our emotions? How do we build better relationships? Big questions, big topics, but I really feel excited to start the journey.”

Panel member Dr Trudi Seneviratne said it is vital politicians avoided cutting financial support for projects created by predecessors.

The last Labour government opened Sure Start centres for children, but more than 1,000 have shut since 2010 due to cutbacks.

Dr Seneviratne urged politicians “to buy into this as a long-term programme that continues regardless of changes of government”.