With parenting comes mastering the ‘evil eye’, ‘the look’ or even telling your kids they’ll go straight back to the car in the event that they’re misbehaving. But what do you do when you’re the Duchess of Cambridge and you have millions of eyes on you?
Parenting in public when you’re a Royal is next level
Parenting in public when you’re a Royal HAS to be tricky. You have to look like you’ve got it all together – the outfits, the hair, the behaviour. Everyone smiling. No one spill anything on themselves. No, you can’t play on my phone.
So how do the Royal family keep their kids in line in front of prying eyes and paparazzi lenses?
Though I’d love nothing more than to see Kate frog-marching her kids back to the Range Rover, it’s been said that the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton uses code words among other techniques in public to let her children know to er… rein it in, so to speak. Because no doubt screaming STOP THAT! and WAIT UNTIL YOUR FATHER GETS HOME! doesn’t really sit well with the Royal demeanour.
Truthfully though, we rarely do see Prince George (aged 7), Princess Charlotte (aged 6) or Prince Louis (aged 3) acting up in public. And when we do, it reminds us they’re still kids. Royal kids, but still kids at heart!
Having said that, Princess Charlotte does look to be the most fun / sassiest of the three Cambridge children, and some of her cheeky and moody moments have been captured (and celebrated) by waiting cameras.
[mc_block_title custom_title=”5 Ways the Duchess of Cambridge gets her kids to behave in public”]
1. The ‘laugh it off approach’
Kids will be kids and when young Princess Charlotte cheekily poked her tongue out at onlookers instead of waving hello, the Duchess was quick to laugh it off, appearing to have a giggle at her daughter’s antics – as did the rest of us!
We had the insight into the cheeky and hilarious side of Prince George as he fulfilled the role of pageboy in Princess Eugenie’s wedding. Waiting in the back of the chapel with the bride, there’s not much at all that Kate could do. We hope she laughed this one off too! #thisisallofus
2. Code words and distraction
We have little doubt that there are a few phrases in circulation. What we do know is that Kate explained to The Sun that instead of saying “calm down!”, she says “let’s take a break” and calms the kids down with a puzzle or book. There’s a LOT to be said for distraction techniques. Books, games, food – it all works!
3. The use of touch
The Duchess had her work cut out for her at her sister Pippa’s 2017 wedding. Not only was Kate a bridesmaid, a very young Prince George and Princess Charlotte were also part of the wedding party. The Duchess could be seen gently patting an excited Prince George’s head to calm him down on the day. Kate even successfully shushed all six kids with one single finger to her lips. Go mama!
4. The pointed finger of steely determination and focus
Much like the ‘shhhhhh’ finger action, Kate uses a pointed finger to help focus no doubt herself, but also her children when addressing their behaviour in public. It can’t be easy to be dealing with tantrums in public with EVERYONE watching.
5. Kate physically lowers herself
To be fair, we believe Wills and Kate to be awesome parents. We often see the Duchess kneeling or crouching down to talk to her children at their eye level, seemingly oozing patience and poise. Or perhaps she’s just asking her kids what puzzle they want to have a crack at?
And when it comes to handling tantrums…
When it comes to managing toddler tantrums, the Duchess of Cambridge is just like every other mum. When asked in an interview “How do you manage toddler tantrums in your household?” Kate responded with “Yes, that’s a hard one… I’d also like to ask the experts myself!”.
@royalfamilychannel Tantrum tips, anyone?! ##katemiddleton##kids##royalfamily##duchessofcambridge##cry♬ original sound – The Royal Family Channel
Royal or not, when it comes to managing kids’ behaviour outside the comfort of home, do whatever works I say! How do you respond to your kids misbehaving in public? Do you match them in their tantrums, have a certain evil eye look or code words like the Duchess of Cambridge?
