Kate Middleton visited the children’s charity, the Anna Freud Center. She’s spreading the message that what happens during a child’s first five years of life plays a significant role in their social and emotional development.
Kate Spoke with the Organization’s Chief Executive, Professor Eamon McCrory
The future Queen has been a patron of Anna Freud for about ten years. The royal began her visit by meeting families who are working with the organization and the Institute of Health Visitors to improve children’s mental health.
Speaking to a father, Kate sweetly held a little boy’s hand as she remarked, “Thank you for being here, because it’s so important we hear from fathers right from the get-go.”
The eight-month-old baby, Judah, held the Princess’s finger, and she said, “You’re very smiley.” Kate looked sophisticated and stunning, wearing a black-and-white Emily Wickstead dress, grey heels, and matching earrings.
The Princess also spoke with the organization’s chief executive, Professor Eamon McCrory. The two of them discussed the Anna Freud Center’s work in mental health.
During her visit, Catherine also met groups of parents of children and babies who had participated in a “scribing presentation.” They wrote ideas from their discussion on a whiteboard under the banner of “putting your priorities into practice.”
The group also spoke to Kate about how health visitors often don’t have time during visits to families and children. They want to sit with them and spend some quality time with them.
Kate Is Passionate About the Work of Anna Freud
McCrory said,
“The princess has such a natural down-to-earth manner and very quickly became comfortable in talking to parents about their experiences, and parents were very quickly at ease sharing their experiences with her.”
He continued,
“She sat down and played with the little toddlers and babies that were visiting. It really demonstrated her genuine interest in people and also in her view of relationships being absolutely key for future prevention.”
McCrory added,
“The Princess was really interested in her experience and really passionate about how we, at Anna Freud, we can act with working in collaboration with parents, bringing together science and clinical practices to shape the lives of the next generation of children and young people.”
After meeting with parents, she joined roundtable discussions with experts from the charity, teachers, child psychologists, and donors to the charity to talk about how children’s mental health should be supported.
Research gathered by the charity shows that those who are more socially connected have better mental health than those who are more isolated from their families and friends.
Even those who are physically healthy but less connected can suffer from more mental health struggles.
The Princess Delivered Her First Speech Since Her Cancer Diagnosis Last Week
Last week, the Princess delivered her first public speech since her cancer diagnosis. Kate called upon leaders to prioritize “time and tenderness just as much as productivity and success.” She spoke of “profitability” and “positive impact” and pointed out that the two are not “incompatible.”
During her speech, she talked about her early years’ work and her Royal Foundation Center for Early Childhood, which the Princess of Wales established in June 2021.
Kate said, “The love we feel in our earliest years fundamentally shapes who we become and how we thrive as adults.”
She continued, “A loving home ultimately teaches us how to love and how to care, but every environment has the potential to shape our hearts.”
She added, “Every one of you interacts with your own environment: a home, a family, a business, a workforce, a community. These are the ecosystems that you allow yourselves to help weave.”
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