The Princess of Wales cooed over toddlers and held the fingers of a little boy during a visit to the Anna Freud mental health charity in central London on Tuesday. Kate met parents helping to shape a new training curriculum for health visitors, telling them: “Thank you for being part of the programme, it really matters.”
The future Queen’s Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood has launched the programme with Anna Freud, a leading research and development organisation specialising in children and young people’s mental health. The new curriculum, expected to launch next year, aims to support health visitors in promoting early social and emotional development in children.
During the visit, Kate sat down with parents enjoying a coffee break and playing with their children. She chatted with Andy Apraku, 41, a secondary school teacher from Croydon, who was holding his eight-month-old son Judah. The little boy immediately grasped Kate’s fingers, and at one point sucked them, prompting Mr Apraku to joke that his son was hungry. The father-of-three emphasised the need to “recognise fathers have a role, and are in the room”.
Kate also tried to engage 13-month-old Amelia Baddeley, who wandered over to play with a red toy car the princess held out. Amelia’s mother, Ella Baddeley, 20, from Reading, watched as Kate attempted to make the toddler smile. The princess later joined experts, academics, teachers and child psychologists in discussions about trusted relationships in childhood.
Anna Freud, the pioneer of child psychoanalysis and daughter of Sigmund Freud, founded the Hampstead War Nurseries in 1941, which evolved into the modern charity. Professor Eamon McCrory, Anna Freud’s chief executive, said of the curriculum: “This programme is really focusing on how can we nurture and develop healthy social and emotional development and those key skills that are the bedrock for future life.” He added that Kate emphasised the importance of lived experience, noting that “the parent’s voice is helping to make sure what we develop is accessible, relevant and needed.”
