Duchess of Cambridge 'exhausted' by lockdown parenting and is cutting her children's hair
The Duchess of Cambridge has admitted that she finds parenting during the lockdown “exhausting” and says she feels like she’s always being “pulled in different directions”.
She also revealed she has had a go at cutting her children’s hair.
Kate was talking to other parents during a video call in which she urged mums and dads to look out for their own mental health as the latest period of school closures ends its fourth week.
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She spoke about the “additional roles” so many parents have had to take on as teachers, PE instructors and hairdressers.
Asked by a headteacher to write a word to describe how she has found being a mum during the pandemic, Kate wrote “exhausting”.
She also rated her maths skills at “minus 5” and said that Prince William had been her greatest support.
William and Kate are doing the home-schooling for their two older children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, who normally attend a private school, Thomas’s Battersea, in South London.
Kate explains why she feels exhausted by parenting at the moment
But, like nearly all other families, the Cambridges are getting used to remote learning for 7-year-old George, who is in England’s Year 3, and 5-year-old Charlotte who is in Year 1.
Prince Louis, their third child, is just two.
Kate said: “I think as parents you have got the day-to-day elements of being a parent but during lockdown we’ve had to take on additional roles that perhaps others around us in our communities or in our lives would have supported us, and helped us with.”
She added: “I’ve become a hairdresser this lockdown, much to my children’s horror. We’ve had to become teacher.
"I think I personally feel pulled in so many different directions and you try to do your best at everything but at the end of the day I do feel exhausted.”
Royal sources say that William and Kate do all the home-schooling for their children while they are staying at their country residence, Anmer Hall, on the Sandringham Estate Norfolk.
But unlike many parents, it’s thought the Cambridges nanny, Maria Borrallo, is still employed there to help look after the children which many parents would clearly consider a luxury.
Kate was joined on the video call with some of the parents and the headteacher at Roe Green Primary School in North London.
They all spoke about many of the issues that parents across the UK are facing at this time like loneliness and feeling cut off.
The Duchess urged the parents to look out for one another: “Make sure everyone looks after themselves - it’s very hard to prioritise but it’s definitely needed now more than ever.”
And Kate sympathised with the other parents feeling the challenge of pandemic parenting: “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."