Princess of Wales launches long-term early years campaign
By Rachel Lawler
The Princess of Wales has launched a new awareness-raising campaign, aiming to increase public understanding of the importance of the first five years of a child’s life.
The ‘Shaping Us’ campaign follows research from the Centre for Early Childhood which found that very few people understand the unique importance of the early years compared to other life stages.
"The most preventative years"
The Princess of Wales said: “The way we develop, through our experiences, relationships, and surroundings during our early childhood, fundamentally shapes our whole lives. It affects everything from our ability to form relationships and thrive at work, to our mental and physical well-being as adults and the way we parent our own children.
“These are the most preventative years. By focusing our collective time, energy, and resources to build a supportive, nurturing world around the youngest members of our society and those caring for them, we can make a huge difference to the health and happiness of generations to come.
“All of society has a role to play in this, even if you are not directly involved in a child’s life, because we are all responsible for building a more compassionate world in which our children can grow, learn and live. In these difficult times, it is more important than ever to help support parents and caregivers provide loving, safe and secure homes for their babies and young children to thrive.”
Welcome campaign
Commenting, Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance said: “We welcome the Royal Foundation’s ‘Shaping Us’ campaign and would like to thank The Princess of Wales for her unwavering commitment and dedication to raising awareness of the importance of the early years.
“As this campaign shows, the first five years of a child’s life is absolutely pivotal to their future development and life chances, and the role of early education in this is crucial. And yet all too often over recent years, the early years has been de-prioritised when it comes to education policy – and crucially, funding – with a disproportionate focus placed on the later years of a child’s education and development.
“As such, we hope that the next stage of The Princess’ campaign will prompt conversation – and more importantly, action – from both society and government when it comes to valuing the early years sector and the importance of early childhood.”