bitchy | Princess Kate launches new campaign: ‘Our early childhood shapes the rest of our lives’

We’ve often talked about the utter clownshow that is Kensington Palace, and I have to say, it’s gotten so much worse since William and Kate became the Prince and Princess of Wales. Like, I’m not a huge fan of Charles in general, but when Charles was POW, he worked. He had a million schemes, charities, events, foundations, etc. He stayed busy and it was never this amateurish exercise we’ve seen from Kensington Palace for more than a decade. It’s not entirely the fault of KP’s staff and advisors, because William and Kate are clearly two of the dumbest, laziest and most tone-deaf people in the world. They’re content to do busy work and burn through resources on their embiggening. They still think the model of “show up empty-handed and get photographed at foodbank” is the model which works. Nothing speaks to this more than Will and Kate’s two “signature” initiatives, Earthshot and the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood. Well, we knew that Kate was going to announce some big new busy work for her Keenwell Institute, and here it is: a campaign called Shaping Us. The campaign’s mission is to spread awareness of the importance of early childhood. That’s it. That’s all. Kate “wrote” an open letter about it:

“This week, I am delighted to reveal The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood will launch a major new awareness raising campaign, highlighting the critical importance the first five years of our lives have on shaping the adults we become. During our very early childhood, our brains develop at an amazing rate – faster than any other time of our lives. Our experiences, relationships, and surroundings at that young age, shape the rest of our lives. It is a time where we lay the foundations and building blocks for life. It is when we learn to understand ourselves, understand others and understand the world in which we live.”

“But as a society, we currently spend much more of our time and energy on later life. I am absolutely determined that this long-term campaign is going to change that. It will start by highlighting how we develop during early childhood and why these years matter so much in terms of shaping who we become. I will be joined by a remarkable group of experts spanning science, research, policymaking and front-line practice as well as an exciting group of well-known faces from music, sport and television to show all of us why it is in all of our interests to care about this.”

“We all need to know the critical importance of our early childhood,” Kate said. “They really are years like no other in our lives. I urge everyone reading this to take the opportunity to learn more about this incredible time of life, to think back to your own childhood and how it shaped you, and most importantly, to ask yourselves what you can do to make the world a more supportive and loving place for our children. Because healthy, happy children shape a healthy, happy future.”

[From People]

“But as a society, we currently spend much more of our time and energy on later life. I am absolutely determined that this long-term campaign is going to change that….” Do “we” spend “much more of our time and energy on later life”? Aren’t most child development specialists looking at, you know, all of childhood? I’ve always been disconcerted with Kate’s overwhelming message that if you have a f–ked up childhood under the age of five, there’s no hope for you. What happens to kids AFTER the age of five is pretty important too. It’s ALL important.

People Magazine also got some mind-numbingly stupid sh-t from the Kensington Palace clowns, with KP’s spokesperson saying: “The Princess has taken an active role in every stage of this campaign… the Princess really wants this campaign to bring about change in the way that we think about and see the importance of early years. This is very much the start. And I think this is very much going to be a key focus of her work way beyond next week. And I’m sure it will be a golden thread throughout her working life.” Wait, THIS is the start? Then what was she doing for twelve years? Wasn’t the Five Big Questions and the pie charts the start of something? And the “golden thread” – jesus h.

Of course there’s a keen new video too. The comments were… rough. But the whole thing is kind of insane? Literally going through a photo album and flashing Big Blue???

Our early childhood shapes the rest of our lives.#ShapingUs – coming soon with The Centre for @Earlychildhood pic.twitter.com/jM7nJS5xhX

— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) January 28, 2023

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.