Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, began a candid video conversation with co-parents about the challenges of educating and homeschooling three children during lock-in. Catherine revealed that parenting during COVID-19 pandemic left her ‘exhausted’ and joking about her children who ‘terrified’ back when she started doing her hair.
The mother of three took part in a conversation with three parents whose children visit Roe Green Junior School in Kingsbury, North London, with head teacher Melissa Loosemore. In a “show and tell” exercise during the chat, which was shared on the Royal Family’s Instagram and YouTube channel, Loosemore instructed everyone to answer questions by writing them down on a piece of paper. The first request was to ‘write down one word that describes parenting during this pandemic’.
The Duchess kept the word ‘exhausting’ while the other parents put it together with similar feelings, including ‘challenging’, ‘hurried’ and ‘patience’.
Catherine explained her feelings by saying, ‘I’m a hairdresser from this closure, to my children’s horror, as she watches her hair cut. We had to become a teacher – and I think I personally feel drawn in so many different directions. and you try your best with everything, but at the end of the day I feel exhausted. ‘
She added: “I think you as parents have the daily elements of parenting, but I assume that during lockdown we still had to take on additional roles that others in our communities or in our lives might have supported and helped us with. ‘
During another exercise, the head teacher asked the parents to write down who their biggest support was during the pandemic. The Duchess writes down ‘William’, her husband.
The last exercise encouraged parents to assess their math skills after months of homeschooling their children. While the others gave themselves an ‘eight’, the Duchess gave herself a ‘minus five’. She laughs as she admits she’s right at the bottom of the class’.
The Duchess added: “Being able to share your own experience with others who are going through the same thing makes you feel less discouraged and makes you feel less isolated.”
The group also discussed parents’ loneliness during this unprecedented time. As parents isolate themselves from friends and family, Kate’s Early Years – a national survey on early childhood care and development in Britain – found that loneliness rose from 38% to 63% during the pandemic.
In an effort to tackle the problem, The Royal Foundation, in collaboration with the Anna Freud National Center for Children and Families, Place2Be and Young Minds, has launched the initiative The Mentally Healthy Schools, a free and reliable website provide resources to enhance awareness, knowledge and confidence in the promotion and support of pupils’ mental health.