Duchess Kate opens up about every day struggle: “It’s so hard”
The Duchess of Cambridge has opened up about her parenting struggles.
The mother of three talked about her issues with parenting life at the launch of national support line FamilyLine in London on Tuesday during her visit to Family Action charity.
The free helpline service aims to provide practical information, guidance and emotional support for parents and carers in need via telephone calls, email or text messaging.
The Duchess of Cambridge is at @family_action’s Lewisham base today to launch their new service ‘FamilyLine’ – which uses a network of volunteers from across the country to support parents & carers through
phone calls, email and texts. pic.twitter.com/2NiOe64tY1— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) 22 January 2019
While she has a nanny and a housekeeper to help out with her children – Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis – the Duchess admitted she still has moments of feeling isolated.
“It’s so hard,” the Duchess told volunteers at the charity. “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. Everybody experiences the same struggle.”
The Duchess also viewed the “Family Monsters” campaign film, which was produced to mark the charity’s 150th anniversary. The film puts the spotlight on hidden “monsters” that families face, such as debt, addiction, mental health issues, relationship problems and lack of quality time.
Every family has its monsters, watch & share our film so we can all talk about & face our monsters together #MyFamilyMonsters https://t.co/h9AKVfWpKf pic.twitter.com/1rkAqi6RMP
— Family Action (@family_action) 10 January 2019
Since last year, the 37-year-old has been working with practitioners and academics from a wide range of fields to discuss what more can be done to promote better lives for children with a focus on the earliest stage of life, from pre-birth to infancy.
Dawn Daley, one of the helpline’s users, said the Duchess “felt like she was just another friend, she was easy to talk to… When we got emotional, she said [we] were brave to share our stories. She was very compassionate. It’s good someone like Kate is there to let other people know that we all have our struggles.”