Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge speaks at a symposium she has organised on early intervention for children and families. Photo / Getty Images
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge speaks at a symposium she has organised on early intervention for children and families. Photo / Getty Images
Teenagers should be taught parenting and relationship skills to prepare them to be "child-ready" in good time, the Duchess of Cambridge has said.
The Duchess, who is expecting her third child next month, said it was important to prepare future mothers and fathers for parenthood, to enable them to cope with the "mental and emotional needs" of their children.
In a speech on the benefits of early intervention in supporting children's mental health, she said early intervention would help to break "the inter-generational cycle of disadvantage", the Daily Telegraph reports.
Speaking at a symposium of academics, professionals and charities organised by the Royal Foundation, the Duchess said: "I really do feel so passionately about the importance of early intervention, and that by working on new approaches together, we can make a real difference for generations to come."
In one of her last engagements before beginning her maternity leave, the Duchess announced she was setting up a steering group to explore how best to provide children with the best start in life.
After evidence is gathered from experts, charities, the medical and teaching professions, it will be compiled into a strategy towards the end of the year.
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In a speech at the Royal Society of Medicine, the Duchess said we "cannot intervene early enough" to break "the inter-generational cycle of disadvantage".
She said: "We need mental health support in primary schools before the biological changes and academic pressures of adolescence kick in.
"We also need a focus on parenting and family support, so that parents feel able to get their children 'school ready', and are confident that they themselves can cope with the mental and emotional needs of their own children.
"We need to highlight how important it is to support mothers too, potentially even before they give birth. They need to be aware how vulnerable they might be and, critically, know where they can find help for themselves, as well as for their babies and toddlers.
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"And potentially we could start to look even earlier, by teaching parenting and relationship skills to teenagers, to get the next generation of parents child-ready, well before they have to put these skills into practice."
Professor Peter Fonagy, chief executive of the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, described the Duchess as the person "who has done more to turn the tide of stigma around mental health more than any other single individual that I could name."
He had seen her visiting providers, "energising, enthusing, deepening the commitment of front-line workers in an invaluable way", he said.
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"She has also changed all our way of thinking by her intelligent questioning and crystal-clear focus."
He added: "It is vitally important to work together, to form a community that cares about early childhood."
"This is where the Royal Foundation can and should do a massive service to this country, because it has the power to bring people together."
Professor Sir Simon Wessely introduced the conference by telling delegates: "We can spend an awful lot of time doing what my friends in the military say is 'admiring the problem'. Indeed it's right we should do that...to look at the links between childhood adversity and adult mental health problems.
"But the real question and the question that most of today is going to be about is what can we do about it? And the answer is rather more than we used to."
