The Duchess of Cambridge has shared a video telling parents to ‘look after’ themselves during the lockdown, sating it is a ‘highly challenging time’.
With a recent report stating that children’s mental health is suffering during the pandemic, Kate, speaking for Children’s Mental Health Week, said parents need to be ‘the best versions of ourselves for the children in our care’.
She also urged young people who are suffering during the lockdown to express themselves through outlets such as photography, music, or poetry.
She has supported the Children’s Mental Health Week since it was launched in 2015, to highlight the importance of children and young people’s mental health. The initiative was launched by Place2Be, a children’s mental health charity of which she is royal patron.
In her video, the duchess said: “This year’s Children’s Mental Health Week is all about expressing yourself – about finding creative ways in which to share your thoughts, ideas and feelings. So whether that’s through photography, through art, through drama, through music or poetry – it’s finding those things that make you feel good about yourself.
“And while this is Children’s Mental Health Week there has never been a more important time to talk about parental wellbeing and mental health too.”
She added that many parents find it had to prioritise their own mental wellbeing, but it is essential to do so and that parents should also find a way to share their thoughts and concerns, or find someone to be able to talk to, to be able to be better parents to our children when they need it most.
Last year Kate released the findings of her landmark study on the early years development of children. It revealed that while 90 per cent of people acknowledged maintaining parental mental health was crucial for supporting the health and happiness of their child, in practice, the majority of parents struggled to prioritise their own well being.
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