Kate Middleton Uses Code Words to Let Her Kids Know They're Acting Up in Public
When it comes to Kate Middleton's super powers, being an incredible mom is at the top of the list.
According to a report from The Sun, the Duchess of Cambridge uses code words to communicate with her kids, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, especially in public.
Kate also uses techniques like touching her kids' foreheads when they start to act up and getting down on their level to communicate, according to parenting expert Dr. Rebecca Chicot.
Kate Middleton is a lot of things. She's a duchess, a philanthropist, and, of course, an amazing mom. Anyone who has ever raised kids the ages of the Cambridge kids—Prince George, 6, Princess Charlotte, 4, and Prince Louis, 1—knows that achieving the kind of near-perfect behavior they display in public is no easy feat of parenting.
This is just a normal fact of life: Kids will be kids and that means not acting like perfect, miniature-sized adults every second of every day. Add to that the very public nature of being a member of the royal family, though, and Kate's parenting prowess is nothing short of incredible.
So, how does the Duchess of Cambridge do it? She has a secret language of sorts for communicating to George and Charlotte (and, someday, Louis) that they need to check their behavior.
According to a report from The Sun, Kate's code word phrase for "calm down" is pretty simple: "Let’s take a break."
When Kate announces it's time for a break, George and Charlotte know that it's time to take things down a notch and, if they aren't out in public at the moment (because this code is used behind closed doors, too), they take a few minutes to engage in a quiet, solo activity, like reading a book or doing a puzzle, to regroup.
"It’s very hard for any parent to have to parent in public," Rebecca Chicot, Ph.D., founder of Essential Parent and the author of the Calm and Happy Toddler, told The Sun.
Kate also has some physical communication techniques that help her keep George and Charlotte calm in public, Chicot says.
"She seems to be good at making warm contact 'touch to the head' which is a nice connection," Chicot explained. "She gets down to their level to talk to them but let’s them be children. She has a lovely balance of sensitivity and gentle boundaries. She doesn’t expect them to behave like little adults and knows that children go through perfectly natural stages like tantrums."
"Kate is a sensitive and warm mum," Chicot added. "This is a called an authoritative style of parenting that is now encouraged. This is compared to an autocratic parenting that was encouraged in some circles in Victorian times (e.g. children should be seen and not heard)."
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