Duchess drops in to hear how play can make children happy
THE Duchess of Cambridge has embraced the Danish way of parenting through play, as she embarked on her fact-finding mission to learn how to bring up happy children by slipping down a 20ft spiral slide, in her heels.
The Duchess, who is investigating Denmark’s reputation for creating the world’s most contented children, skipped the stairs at the Lego Foundation Play Lab in Copenhagen, saying: “In the spirit of where I am, I had to.”
Speaking of the importance of boosting “social and emotional” well-being as well as infants’ physical milestones, she spent the day hearing how the country’s health-visiting system teaches parents to connect with their children through conversation and play.
She praised the number of men who take extended leave from work, saying it was “so nice” to hear how they can “get to know” their new babies.
During one engagement, where she saw students being trained to teach children life skills through play, she said her own children, Prince George, eight, Princess Charlotte, six, and Prince Louis, three, were “very jealous” she was visiting the Lego Foundation, home
‘William always worries about me meeting underones. I come home saying “let’s have another one”’
of the country’s most famous toy export. “I spent this weekend trying to build a water-filled construction and trying to find all the green bits. I was like, ‘This is good training’,” she said.
She added that she had been “so keen” to see the building, asking to hear about their research data supporting the Danish methods of early education.
The Duchess is visiting Denmark with her newly formed Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood.
During a visit to the Children’s Museum in Frederiksberg, she spoke of her belief that there should be as much discussion about the social and emotional development of young children as their physical milestones.
After meeting two eight-month-old boys and their parents, she joked: “It makes me very broody.
“William always worries about me meeting under-one-year-olds. I come home saying ‘let’s have another one’.”
Told about the universal struggles of parenting, where even well-educated mothers and fathers struggle with feeling “insecure”, she agreed: “[There is] the expectation that maybe they should know already.”
Later, when informed that many Danish fathers took parental leave, the Duchess said: “It’s so nice! You get to know him [your baby].”