Kate Middleton is taking her mission for the youngest in society to the next stage.
The Princess of Wales, 43, is unveiling a new blueprint for raising awareness of the importance of emotional and social skills to future mental and physical well-being, and how getting it right for those in the 0-5 year age group is crucial.
In the coming days, Kate will be out and about promoting a new part of her campaign, underlining how she is gradually getting back into her stride with her public work after a year spent largely out of the public eye.
In the meantime, she has outlined her thinking in a new foreword to The Shaping Us Framework, which has been penned by a coalition of academics, clinicians and practitioners in human development from around the U.K. and the world.
It comes as research by the Royal Foundation’s Centre for Early Childhood has found that there is still some way to go in improving perceptions about the importance of the early years in bringing about positive development. The annual survey reveals that, while 94% of people believe that social and emotional skills are important to happiness in adult life, 42% of people report having little or no understanding of how these skills develop during early childhood.
Shaping Us kicked off two years ago in January 2023, and after its launch Kate took the campaign on the road to Leeds and elsewhere. A year ago, Kate’s abdominal operation and then her cancer diagnosis followed but, amid that treatment and recovery, the early years is one of the main subject areas she has kept up with her staff where she could over the last 12 months.
Princess Kate writes in a new foreword to the report, “Modern society is complex. At times, it can feel like the world is filled with mistrust and misunderstanding, leaving many people feeling isolated and vulnerable during difficult times. The impact of this — poor mental health, addiction and abuse — can be devastating, for individuals and for society.”
“If we are to address this properly, if we are to find real, lasting solutions to these deep-rooted challenges and create a physically and mentally healthier society, we must reset, restore and rebalance. We must invest in humankind,” she continued.
She added, “At the heart of all of this is the need for us to develop and nurture a set of social and emotional skills which we must prioritize if we are to thrive.”
Kate says the new report, published on Feb. 2, “lays out why early childhood is such a golden opportunity to give the next generation the most positive start in life. But it also shows that these skills continue to grow throughout adulthood — it is never too late.”
Kate’s work focuses on how the relationships and interactions between parents and carers and their babies and young children is the most crucial factor that can influence social and emotional development during early childhood.
That doesn’t mean others can’t play a part too. Her foundation’s paper “helps individuals and organizations understand the ways in which they can contribute to making this conceptual model a living, breathing reality for everybody,” she wrote. “It lays out why early childhood is such a golden opportunity to give the next generation the most positive start in life.”
To that end, for example, her team has involved businesses in a key part of the campaign.
Christian Guy, executive director of the Centre for Early Childhood, said in a statement, “It is time that we recognized and acted upon the undeniable significance of social and emotional skills and give them the recognition they deserve. Getting this right in early childhood, when we lay the foundations upon which these skills continue to grow throughout our lives, could have a truly profound impact on the future of individuals and of our society.”
The palace points out that Kate’s center and their work “does not intend to replace existing frameworks but offers — for the first time —a universal and flexible way to talk about social and emotional skills that cuts across all areas of life and engages a broad audience.”
Kate, while still gently easing herself back into public life following the Jan. 14 news that she is in remission from cancer, is clearly increasing the frequency of her outings. Last week, she was out three times, in South Wales at Tŷ Hafan children’s hospice where she became its patron, and at a textile factory, both on Jan. 30. Earlier in the week, on Jan. 27, she joined her husband Prince William at the London commemoration of the Holocaust victims and survivors.
