The summer months came often be a quieter period for royal watchers, however that doesn’t mean members of the Royal Family aren’t busy championing their key causes – including The Princess of Wales and her work with the early years.
Launched by The Centre of Early Childhood, Catherine has supported a series of videos that will help spread messages about building happier and healthier children, based on the Shaping Us Framework.
The videos have been created to encourage families to share ‘everyday moments of connection’ – the ‘building blocks’ of helath development – with little ones, to help prepare them to be ‘better equipped’ as they grow.
The videos will be used by those who work with babies, children and families to aid meaningful and consistent conversations with parents and carers about development socially and emotionally. Additionally, universities, charities and professional bodies across the UK and further afield will hopefully build these films into their training and practice.
After an introductory film, the six films will be based on the following themes:
- How We Grow an Emotionally Healthy Brain
- Noticing and Navigating Feelings
- Managing Big Feelings Together
- Back and Forth Interactions
- Supporting Early Learning and
- Creating Space for Connection.
The series of videos are available from today (6th August) on the Centre for Early Childhood’s YouTube channel.
Accompanying the launch, the Princess issued a message, stressing that ‘early childhood has been recognised as the golden opportunity to build strong foundations for future life, health and happiness’.
‘The new animated films from The Centre of Early Childhood showcase how adults can create nurturing, loving interactions with children, helping to foster social and emotional development during their earliest years. These core social and emotional skills are essential in forming healthy relationships and are fundamental building blocks that can carry us through life.
‘That is why we want to raise the awareness of, and celebrate, the extraordinary value of everyday moments of connection which matter more than ever in a rapidly changing world.’
Kate continued: ‘Early childhood offers a sacred opportunity to transform our societies for the better and by nurturing these skills in our babies and children, we will be raising a younger generation better equipped to face the future.’
Although currently on holiday with her husband William and their children, George, Charlotte and Louis, The Princess of Wales has been very involved with the production of short animated videos.
Catherine spent time with two of the videos illustrators and she has met with early years practitioners who have also been involved with the development of the series during a creative workshop in June.
Childhood development experts, including Professor Peter Fonagy from the Anna Freud Centre and Professor Sam Wass have helped with the development of the films. 25 organisations, many of which the Princess is Patron including Action for Children and Palce2Be, are committed to using the films in their own work. This will be through sharing the films within their networks and incorporate the films into their training programmes.
The series of films has also been translated into Welsh and British Sign Language.
This project is yet another example to demonstrate The Princess of Wales’ passion for early years development, highlighting how she is continuing to shine a spotlight on this cause and make a meaningful impact on the lives of many young children across the UK, as well as future generation.
