Hey Wills, you’re not alone.

Last week, during a visit to Vietnam,  Prince William admitted he struggled with parenthood.

The internet was vicious!

HOW VERY DARE HE? cried Twitter.

“U don’t know meaning of struggle”*

“This man has no idea what it means to struggle in life”

*SLOW HAND CLAP*
Well done the internet. You completely missed the point.

I don’t for one minute believe that when William said he struggled he meant that he was strapped for cash or he was weighed down with laundry. He wasn’t admitting he found it a struggle because they need a new boiler but the kids need new shoes. He isn’t talking about a materialistic struggle. He is talking about a mental struggle.

The one many of us go through when we question every little decision we make and action we take. When we second guess the impact the words we say will have on our children in years to come. The struggle of feeling like your wading through treacle rather than frolicking in leaves. The struggle of making decisions based on the impact it will have on a whole family unit rather than the impact it will have on yourself. The struggle of trying to encourage your children to be thankful, thoughtful, caring and kind little humans.

It’s bloody hard work.

The struggle of parenthood isn’t a working class/upper-class argument.

It doesn’t matter how much money we have.
It doesn’t matter how big or small a support network we have surrounding us.
We can all find ourselves struggling for one reason or another.
I’ve said it before, none of us go into parenthood thinking it will be a breeze but we can’t truly prepare for the impact on our lives whether it be our first, second or third (I assume). To sit behind a keyboard telling someone they aren’t allowed to declare parenting a struggle is a cop out.
None of us have the right to decide that someone else can’t find things difficult because they have more money than us or a bigger house. It’s not for us to decide who is allowed to struggle and who isn’t.
It’s also not for us to decide whose struggles are worse than others.
It’s for us to support others who are struggling, if we can.

Parenting levels the field. No matter how rich or poor  we are we’ve all been sicked on. We’ve all discovered that questionable mark on our top once we enter polite company. We’ve all had pasta thrown at us. We’ve all questioned whether it’s a freckle or a speck of shit on our arm

Give the man a break. He may be heir to the throne but he’s still a parent like the rest of us and I applaud him for admitting this.
Wills, if you’re reading this, if you ever need a chat about this whole family/parenting malarky just drop me a line. You, Catherine and the children can pop round for tea and a chat.

*No one is actually going to take offence at something written by someone who can’t even be bothered to write the whole word ‘you’.