Duchess of Cambridge launches family helpline, reminding parents and children: 'Every family has its monsters'

The Duchess of Cambridge has spoken about the lack of information available for new mothers, saying it can make the early days of parenthood "so hard".

The Duchess, who has three children, admitted that even with the support of her family and a nanny at home, she too had found useful advice "fell away" as babies grew older.

Speaking as she launched a new helpline for families, she moved to reassure parents that even she did not find it easy, telling them: "Everybody experiences the same struggle."

“It’s so hard," she said, during a visit to the charity Family Action. "You get a lot of support with the baby as a mother particularly in the early days but after the age of one it falls away.

“After that there isn’t a huge amount - lots of books to read.

The Duchess visited the South East London offices of Family Action to officially launch its new FamilyLine, a telephone, text and email service providing support to parents and carers struggling at home.

The Duchess, wearing a green Beulah dress, spoke about the pressures on parents when she sat in on a role-playing training session for FamilyLine volunteers and staff.

Sagari Sarkar, a volunteer and mother-of-three who played a distressed mother in the training session, was impressed by the Duchess's understanding and experience of the issues.

“I think it makes her human. It makes her in touch. She is a parent, a very active parent, and I think that’s what people like about her,” she said.

“The reason why she’s a great supporter of our service is that she does recognise that families have the same pressures and struggles and she’s no exception.

"She may have slightly different circumstances to the rest of us but, you know, being a parent is being a parent. We all have the same struggles and challenges.”

The helpline has been piloted for the past 12 months but is now running as a nationwide service.

The Duchess also met young carers juggling school with looking after a parent or sibling.

The Duchess talked to them about their fear of being bullied at school if it became known they were carers, and asked if schools should do more to support children in their situation.

Marvelling at their ability to balance their studies with caring, she told them: “You all do an amazing job. I don’t know how you do it."

She also met families receiving support from Family Action, which offers support and advice to anyone struggling with any aspect of family life, including parenting problems, family conflict, relationship difficulties, money problems, or health issues.

The Duchess has previously admitted that she has not always found motherhood easy.

In a speech at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in March 2017, she confessed to a lack of confidence.

“Personally, becoming a mother has been such a rewarding and wonderful experience. However, at times it has also been a huge challenge - even for me who has support at home that most mothers do not,” she said then.

She pointed out there was no rule book, no right or wrong and you just had to do your best.

“For many mothers, myself included, this can, at times lead to lack of confidence and feelings of ignorance,” she added.

Family Action, the charity, has set up FamilyLine for anyone struggling with aspects of family life, from parenting and relationship difficulties to mental health and wellbeing.

The service aims to provide both immediate and long-term support, practical information and guidance, or help with accessing relevant services.

Kensington Palace explained: "The campaign highlights the hidden ‘monsters’ that many families face, such as debt, addiction, lack of time together, relationship issues and mental health issues.

"Every family faces pressures from time to time, and Family Action is drawing attention to the fact that if we don’t acknowledge them and talk about them, these family monsters can get bigger and become overwhelming."

Family Action is this year celebrating 150 years of working to help vulnerable people, and today it supports about 45,000 families every year in Britain through 150 specialist services.

The Duchess' visit was hosted by David Holmes, the chief executive of Family Action, who is a member of the her early years steering group, which is looking at ways of improving how society supports children so they have the resilience to cope with life's pressures when adults.

“The Duchess’s support will encourage many more families to talk about their family monsters,” he said.

“Family life can be challenging for anyone, and we want to help families face their pressures together. Usually, simple talking will get everyday family monsters out in the open and that will usually be enough to stop them becoming overwhelming. But when talking to family or friends is not enough, families can now call our new out of hours FamilyLine.”

FamilyLine is open Monday to Friday 6pm-10pm, Saturday and Sunday 10am-1pm and can be reached by: Freephone 0808 802 666; text message 07537 404282; email familyline@family-action.org. uk