Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, opened in a candid video chat with fellow parents about the challenges of raising and educating three children at home during closure. Catherine revealed that parenting over the years COVID-19 the pandemic has left her “exhausted” and made fun of her children who were backing away “horrified” when she started doing her hair.
The mother of three took part in a debate with three parents whose children are attending Roe Green Junior School in Kingsbury, north-west London, alongside head teacher Melissa Loosemore. In a “show and tell” exercise during the chat, which was shared on Instagram and the royal family’s YouTube channel, Loosemore directed everyone to answer the questions by writing them down on a piece of paper. The first request was to write “a word describing parenting during this pandemic.”
The Duchess kept the word “exhausting,” while the other parents came together with similar feelings, including “challenging,” “hectic,” and “patient.”
Catherine explained her feelings by saying, “This blockage has turned me into a hairdresser, to the horror of my children, watching my mother cut her hair. We’ve had to be a teacher, and I think I personally feel drawn to a lot of it. different directions and you do your best with everything, but in the end I feel exhausted. “
She added: “I think as parents you have the day-to-day elements of being a parent, but I guess during closing we had to take on additional roles that other people might have in our communities or in our lives. he supported and helped us “.
During another exercise, the principal asked parents to write down who has been their biggest support during the pandemic. The Duchess wrote “William,” her husband.
The last exercise encouraged parents to assess their math skills after months of schooling at their children’s home. While the others were given an “eight,” the duchess was described as “minus five.” He laughed while admitting he was “right at the end of class.”
The duchess added: “Being able to share your own experience with other people going through the same thing makes you feel less discouraged and feel less isolated.”
The group also discussed parental loneliness during this unprecedented time. When parents are isolated from friends and family, Kate’s Early Years, a national survey of childcare and development in Britain, found that loneliness increased from 38% to 63% during the pandemic.
In an effort to address the issue, the Royal Foundation, in partnership with the Anna Freud National Center for Children and Families, Place2Be and Young Minds, launched The Mentally Healthy Schools initiative, a free website that provides reliable and practical resources. to improve awareness, knowledge and confidence in promoting and supporting students ’mental health.