The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have revealed their parenting worries during a trip to a YoungMinds call centre in south east London.
Leaving the trip, Kate said of the helpline, 'What we've taken away is just how normal it is. We are parents ourselves, I am sure we will face worries - we do face worries, because we’ve got small young children.'
'If those worries escalate, how vital it is to get support - and you are providing that support.'
'As a parent and as a mother, having that feeling that there is somebody there that is non-judgemental, that can provide the professional support, and that can really provide helping hands at a really difficult time.'
'It is important that parents understand that you can’t be brilliant at everything,' William agreed.
'It is totally fine to talk about it and to seek help and to speak out, because we're not all superheroes. There is a lot of pressure on parents, and most of it is self-made by parents themselves, where you feel you have to be able to handle everything.'
'You have to show strength and resilience to everything. But there are some times when it all gets too much and you need to reach out, and that's totally fine.'
The prince in particular appeared affected by the stories shares on the emotion visit, asking the volunteers he was working with, 'Can I have an easy one please? I'm carrying a lot of things at the moment. I will be in floods of tears at the end otherwise.'
'I've had too many sad stories with the Air Ambulance. I can't deal with any more stuff. Just maybe at the lower level, if I can.'
The couple, who are parents to Prince George, 3, and Princess Charlotte, 1, are keen supporters of mental health initiatives for young people and their families - YoungMinds is one of the charity partners of the family's Heads Together initiative, which they created alongside William's brother Harry.
William concluded, 'I think that is a really good balance of getting the right support straight to these families who are clearly at their wits' end at what to do, and reaching out.'
'Thank goodness they do reach out to something like this. I think it is fantastic.'
