Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, began in a candid video chat with other parents about the challenges of parenting and homeschooling three children during lockdown. Catherine revealed that parenthood during COVID-19 pandemic has left her “exhausted” and made fun of her kids flinching in “horror” when she started doing their hair.
The mother of three took part in a discussion with three parents, whose children attend Roe Green Junior School in Kingsbury, North West London, alongside head teacher Melissa Loosemore. In a “show and tell” exercise during chat, which was shared on Instagram and the Royal Family’s YouTube channel, Loosemore instructed everyone to answer questions by writing them on a piece of paper. The first request was to write down “one word that describes parenthood during this pandemic.”
The Duchess held on to the word “exhausting” while the other parents joined in with similar feelings, including “defiant,” “hectic,” and “patience.”
Catherine explained her feelings by saying, “I became a hairdresser through this lockdown, much to the shock of my kids when I saw my mom cut hair. We needed to become a teacher – and I think personally I’m being pulled in so many different directions and you do your best with everything, but at the end of the day I feel exhausted. “
She added, “I think as parents you have the day-to-day elements of being a parent, but I suppose we had to take on extra roles during lockdown that maybe others in our communities or in our lives might have. and helped. “
In another exercise, the principal asked the parents to write down who their greatest support was during the pandemic. The Duchess wrote down ‘William’, her husband.
The final exercise encouraged parents to assess their math skills after homeschooling their children for months. While the others gave themselves an “eight”, the duchess rated herself a “minus five”. She laughed as she admitted to being “at the very bottom of the class.”
The Duchess added, “If you can share your own experience with others who are going through the same thing, it will feel less discouraging and you will feel less isolated.”
The group also discussed the loneliness of parents in this unprecedented time. As parents feel isolated from friends and family, Kate’s Early Years – a national survey of early childcare and development in Britain – found that loneliness rose from 38% to 63% during the pandemic.
In an effort to address the problem, The Royal Foundation in partnership with The Anna Freud National Center for Children and Families, Place2Be and Young Minds, launched The Mentally Healthy Schools, a free website that provides reliable and practical resources to promote awareness and knowledge to increase. and confidence in promoting and supporting student mental health.