Kate Middleton’s Big Reveal Has Been a Year in the Making

Kate Middleton just had a "milestone moment" with her powerful new project, 5 Big Questions on the Under Fives.

On Instagram, the Duchess of Cambridge has finally revealed the findings of what Kensington Palace calls the "biggest ever UK study on the early years." Middleton and The Royal Foundation teamed up with research company Ipsos MORI to ask parents, families and kindergarten workers about children under five. And now, the duchess is highlighting some interesting insights about the experiences of parents and how the pandemic has shaped their outlook.

In the first video post, Middleton opened up about one of the findings and said, "Ninety-eight percent of you said that nurture is essential to lifelong outcomes. But just one in four actually recognize the specific importance of the first five years of a child’s life."

In a second Instagram post, the duchess also revealed another concerning statistic, which deals with the well-being of parents. The caption reads, "90% of people see parental mental health and wellbeing as being critical to a child’s development, but in reality people do very little to prioritise themselves. Only 10% of parents mentioned taking the time to look after their own wellbeing when asked how they had prepared for the arrival of their baby."

The caption continues, "Worryingly, over a third of all parents (37%) expect the COVID pandemic to have a negative impact on their long-term mental wellbeing."

Meanwhile, the third insight reveals that "70% of parents feel judged by others and among these parents, nearly half feel this negatively impacts their mental health," which only makes things more challenging.

The groundbreaking study has been underway for nearly a year, after Middleton launched the initiative in January and visited several preschools in the U.K. But now that they've brought so many great insights to light, Kensington Palace confirms that this is "just the start of the conversation."

To see the full list of findings, visit the royal website here.

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