Parenting during lockdown is exhausting, says Kate

The Duchess of Cambridge has said the challenges of parenting and home schooling during lockdown have left her "exhausted".

During a video call with a group of parents Catherine also joked about her three children recoiling in "horror" when she had to cut their hair.

Asked to rate her maths ability, the duchess scored herself minus five.

She urged people "to reach out to loved ones and friends" if they were struggling or feeling isolated.

• How are William and Kate handling lockdown?

• How to be the school of Mum and Dad (again)

Catherine took part in the discussion with three parents, whose children attend Roe Green Junior School in Kingsbury, north-west London, alongside head teacher Melissa Loosemore, on Tuesday.

As part of a "show and tell" exercise during the call, Ms Loosemore asked the group to write down "one word that describes parenting during this pandemic".

The duchess chose the word "exhausting", while the other parents had similar feelings, writing "hectic", "patience" and "challenging".

Explaining her decision, Catherine said: "I think as parents you've the day-to-day elements of being a parent, but I suppose during lockdown we have had to take on additional roles that perhaps others in our communities, or in our lives, would have perhaps supported us and helped us with."

She added: "I've become a hairdresser this lockdown, much to my children's horror, seeing mum cutting hair.

"We've had to become a teacher - and I think, personally, I feel pulled in so many different directions and you try your best with everything, but at the end of the day I do feel exhausted."

Katherine spoke to three parents of children at Roe Green Junior School in north-west London

Parent Nicole Seidemann, who has four children aged 11, nine, six and four, agreed with the duchess' comments, saying she was "definitely a full-time teacher right now and struggling to do much else".

In another exercise, the parents were asked to write down who had been their support during the pandemic, with Catherine choosing her husband, William.

Back in April, the duchess described home schooling her children - Prince George, seven, Princess Charlotte, five, and Prince Louis, two - as "challenging" but said they had kept to a "strict routine".

Catherine has previously highlighted the impact of lockdown on parents through her work on early childhood development, with research from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's Royal Foundation finding loneliness among parents of young children had "dramatically increased" during the pandemic.