The Duchess of Cambridge earned a few laughs on her latest video call, mocking her maths skills and admitting that she finds parenting during the pandemic to be ‘exhausting.’
In a video chat with parents from the Roe Green Junior School, all of whom are homeschooling their children during the coronavirus pandemic, Kate joined in on a session with the headteacher, Melissa Loosemore, where she had to write down one word for various questions.
The first question, “How do you rate your maths ability after several months of homeschooling?” earned the Duchess her first laughs after she held up a piece of paper that read minus five.
“I’m obviously right at the bottom,” Kate laughed. “We have special paper packs for people like you,” Loosemore said. “If you need one, just let us know, alright?”
The full video, uploaded to the Royal Family’s YouTube channel, includes a caption that read, “The conversation built on some of the key issues that were raised in The Duchess’ landmark survey on the Early Years, such as parental wellbeing and loneliness.
“The research, which was released last November, revealed that parents struggle to prioritise their own wellbeing, in spite of the fact that 90% see parental mental health and wellbeing as being critical to a child’s development.”
Kate’s virtual chat with Roe Green Junior School parents comes nearly two years after the launch of her Mentally Healthy Schools initiative, an umbrella program from Heads Together, at the school.
Loosemore’s next question, “One word that describes parenting during this pandemic?” lead the Duchess to hold up a paper that said, “Exhausting.” Other parents held up papers that read ‘hectic,’ ‘patience,’ and ‘challenging.’
“I think as parents you have the day-to-day elements of being a parent, but I suppose during lockdown we have had to take on additional roles that I suppose others in our communities of in our lives would have perhaps supported us with. I’ve become a hairdresser this lockdown much to my children’s horror sitting up cutting hair.
“We’ve had to become a teacher – and I personally feel pulled in so many different directions and you try your best with everything, but at the end of the day I do feel exhausted.”
A third question from Loosemore, “Who has been the greatest support to you during the pandemic?” lead Kate to hold up a paper with her husband’s name on it.
“We don’t want it to be Bridgerton, or something, do we?” The headteacher joked, referring to the massively popular Netflix series.
The Duchess of Cambridge spoke to the parents about their mental health parenting and taking care of everything during the pandemic, adding, “I know how challenging it is juggling work, home life, school life, and everything else that you as parents are doing, so really well done.
“Fingers crossed, let’s hope for the positivity as you’ve all been saying. Make sure everyone looks after themselves — it’s very hard to prioritize, but it’s definitely needed now more than ever.”
The full video of Kate’s chat with Loosemore and the parents can be viewed here.
