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The Duchess of Cambridge has made her debut on the BBC’s children’s network, CBeebies, as a storyteller.
The palace released an image showing Kate reading a Bedtime Story to mark Children’s Mental Health Week, which ran from 7-13 February.
The royal chose to read The Owl Who was Afraid of the Dark by Jill Tomlinson to align with this year’s theme of Growing Together, which encourages children and adults to consider how they’ve grown emotionally and how challenges and setbacks can help them to develop.
The book follows the story of Plop, a baby barn owl, who is helped by others to grow in confidence and overcome his fears.
“I couldn’t be more proud to have the duchess read a CBeebies Bedtime Story,” said Patricia Hidalgo, director of BBC Children’s and Education.
“It’s such a special and relevant tale and perfectly represents this year’s Children’s Mental Health week theme.”
Children’s mental health is a particular passion of the duchess.
In a 2016 podcast called A Child in Mind, run by the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, the mother-of-three spoke about the stigma attached to the topic.
“One in three adults still say they would be embarrassed to seek help for their child’s mental health. No parent would fail to call the doctor if their child developed a fever, yet some children are tackling tough times without the support that can help them because the adults in their life are scared to ask,” she said.
“It doesn’t need to be like this. Throughout my work with family and child support organisations, one thing that has stood out to me time and again is that getting early support for a child who is struggling to cope is the best possible thing we can do to help our children as they grow up.”
In her video in support of the UK’s first Children’s Mental Health Week in 2015 she said that she and husband, Prince William, “would not hesitate” to get expert support for their children if they needed it.
Sources: elle.com, dailymail.co.uk, Instagram
