Prince William Shares ‘Easiest Way’ He and Kate Middleton Get Their Children to Go to Bed
Getting young children settled for bedtime is challenging for any parent, but Prince William revealed that he and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge have the perfect pre-bedtime trick for their kids. Bonus points, it’s educational, too.
Prince William has the perfect bedtime routine
Parents often find that a simple bedtime routine goes a long way to signal that a night of sleep is coming soon. Usually that involves ways to wind children down and can include taking a bath and reading bedtime stories.
Prince William shared that he and Kate have a different, but effective, trick for getting their kids to go to bed: they show them nature documentaries.
During an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today, Prince William talked about his kids’ love for David Attenborough’s documentaries. At bedtime, Prince William tells George, Charlotte, and Louis that it’s time for a documentary and it easily gets them together and settled.
“It’s amazing at bedtime when I can crowd the children, just shouting ‘We’re going to watch one of David’s documentaries’ and they come herding in,” Prince William explained (via The Sun). “It’s the easiest way to catch my children and get them ready for bedtime.”
One of the documentaries made Prince George sad
While the documentaries are a hit with his kids, Prince William did admit there was one that Prince George didn’t want to continue watching because it made him sad.
“The most recent one — the extinction one — actually George and I had to turn it off,” he explained. “We got so sad about halfway through. He said to me, ‘You know I don’t want to watch this anymore.’”
Prince William added, “You know, he’s seven years old and he’s asking me these questions already, he really feels it. And I think every seven-year-old out there can relate to that.”
Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis asked David Attenborough questions
The Cambridges’ Instagram page recently featured a video of Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis asking Attenborough questions and the exchange won over royal fans.
Prince George had a question about extinction, asking Attenborough, “What animal do you think will become extinct next?”
Attenborough had a more optimistic spin with his answer, saying, “Well, let’s hope there won’t be any.” He explained how mountain gorillas were “very, very rare” 40 years ago but through fundraising and awareness, the dwindling numbers were boosted.
“So you can save an animal if you want to and you put your mind to it,” he said. “People around the world are doing that because animals are so precious. So let’s hope there won’t be any more that go extinct.”
Princess Charlotte asked Attenborough his thoughts on spiders because she said she likes them, and the naturalist spoke of the wonder of a spider building its web, calling them “so clever.”
Prince Louis had a more broad question, asking, “What animal do you like?,” with Attenborough answering, “I like monkeys best because they are such fun.” For a more domestic pet, however, he said it was “a very difficult question,” adding, “I think I’d go for a puppy.”
