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British RoyalsPrince & Princess of Wales

Anne Hathaway took some parenting tips from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have a fan in Anne Hathaway. She recently praised their parenting techniques in an interview with The Sunday Times.

Speaking to the newspaper about communicating with her two-year-old son, the Oscar-winning actress admitted that she’s taking parenting cues from William and Kate.

“They get down on the child’s level and speak to them eye to eye to make their child feel empowered,” says Hathaway. “I thought that was really cool. I started doing that with Jonathan.”

This practice is known as active listening and requires a person’s full concentration on what the other person is saying and doing to ensure that one hears everything instead of listening to the person talk.

She also spoke about recognising her son’s emotions and allowing him the space to feel them. On a recent outing, Jonathan got mad, and Hathaway revealed that she explained it to him as “Of course you’re mad. This is really frustrating. The answer is still no, but everything you’re feeling right now is totally legit.

“I want there to always be room for his emotions.”

She also admitted that motherhood could be a challenge. “I fall short every day, but I’m not going to beat myself up about it, I’m going to learn from it.

“I’m not perfect,” Hathaway said. “But if I’m frustrated or distracted, I’m good at making sure he’s safe and walking away, calming down and then coming back to him.”

Hathaway’s words call back to Kate’s comment that motherhood is a struggle for everyone during a visit to Family Action last month.

“It’s so hard,” Kate said. “You get a lot of support with the baby as a mother particularly in the early days, but after the age of one, it falls away. After that, there isn’t a huge amount, lots of books to read.

About author

Jess Ilse is the Assistant Editor at Royal Central. She specialises in the British, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish Royal Families and has been following royalty since Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee. Jess has provided commentary for media outlets in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Jess works in communications and her debut novel THE MAJESTIC SISTERS will publish in Fall 2024.