--- title: Kate Middleton Uses Active Listening Parenting Technique description: Prince William and Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton use the active listening parenting style while talking with their children. canonical: https://time.com/4507607/kate-middleton-prince-william-active-listening/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-26T16:55:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:03:27.137Z og:title: Prince William and Kate Middleton Are the New Faces of This Parenting Technique og:description: And parenting experts approve og:url: https://time.com/4507607/kate-middleton-prince-william-active-listening/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt68440bc58802eb3c/6988a77df887dc85aae978d0/kate-middleton-active-listening-prince-george.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: 2016 Royal Tour To Canada Of The Duke And Duchess Of Cambridge - Victoria, British Columbia og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Prince William and Kate Middleton Are the New Faces of This Parenting Technique twitter:description: And parenting experts approve twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt68440bc58802eb3c/6988a77df887dc85aae978d0/kate-middleton-active-listening-prince-george.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Prince William and Kate Middleton Are the New Faces of This Parenting Technique > Sponsored content. 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It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-worth-2026q3/newsletters?i=d73eb387-13a3-4a23-80e8-552f519a311f&cr=time-nl-worth-2026q3-v1) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Sep 26, 2016 4:55 PM UTC  VICTORIA, BC - SEPTEMBER 24: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George of Cambridge and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge arrive at the Victoria Airport on September 24, 2016 in Victoria, Canada. Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George and Princess Charlotte are visiting Canada as part of an eight day visit to the country taking in areas such as Bella Bella, Whitehorse and Kelowna. (Photo by Danny Martindale/FilmMagic) VICTORIA, BC - SEPTEMBER 24: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George of Cambridge and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge arrive at the Victoria Airport on September 24, 2016 in Victoria, Canada. Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George and Princess Charlotte are visiting Canada as part of an eight day visit to the country taking in areas such as Bella Bella, Whitehorse and Kelowna. (Photo by Danny Martindale/FilmMagic) Danny Martindale—FilmMagic/Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Sep 26, 2016 4:55 PM UTC [Prince William](http://motto.time.com/4465916/prince-william-princess-diana-advice/) and Duchess of Cambridge [Kate Middleton ](http://motto.time.com/4452208/kate-middleton-mental-health-children/)touched down in Canada on Saturday as they began an eight-day tour of the country. Their two children, [George](http://time.com/4506987/justin-trudeau-prince-george-high-five-canada-royal-tour/) and Charlotte, followed the prince and duchess in tow. At one point after disembarking from the plane, Kate Middleton crouched down to talk to George, engaging in the parenting technique known as active listening, _Daily Mail_ [reports](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3807402/Let-s-hope-Queen-didn-t-Duchess-Cambridge-practices-parenting-technique-Canada-tour-saw-Prince-William-scolded-Majesty.html). This particular style of parenting, however, didn’t appear to fare well with the Queen, particularly during royal events. In June, [Queen Elizabeth](http://time.com/4377294/queen-elizabeth-twitter-thank-you/) reprimanded Prince William for squatting down to speak to George during the Trooping the Colour ceremony. The Queen [told him](http://www.people.com/people/package/article/0,,20395222%5F21013298,00.html), “Stand up, William,” a request that he quickly obliged. [_Follow Motto on Facebook_](https://www.facebook.com/mottoworkplaylive/)_._ This [parenting](http://time.com/4357166/parenting-social-media/) technique, however, is highly praised by experts, as PEOPLE pointed out this summer. Child development guru Gill Connell and author of _A Moving Child is a Learning Child_ explains why active listening is such a valuable form of parenting. [Connell told](http://www.people.com/people/package/article/0,,20395222%5F21019724,00.html) PEOPLE, “Active listening is one of the most important ways you can send the message, ‘You’re important to me.'” Connell explains that responding with both “verbal and nonverbal cues such as nodding, smiling and hugging” are a great way to “foster self-esteem in powerful ways while encouraging him to communicate even more.” Prince William and Duchess Kate Middleton have quickly become the new faces of this parenting technique, although it’s still not Queen Elizabeth-approved. \[[Daily Mail](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3807402/Let-s-hope-Queen-didn-t-Duchess-Cambridge-practices-parenting-technique-Canada-tour-saw-Prince-William-scolded-Majesty.html)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4507607/kate-middleton-prince-william-active-listening/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4507607/kate-middleton-prince-william-active-listening/"},"headline":"Prince William and Kate Middleton Are the New Faces of This Parenting Technique","datePublished":"2016-09-26T16:55:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:03:27.137Z","description":"And parenting experts approve","url":"https://time.com/4507607/kate-middleton-prince-william-active-listening/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt68440bc58802eb3c/6988a77df887dc85aae978d0/kate-middleton-active-listening-prince-george.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt68440bc58802eb3c/6988a77df887dc85aae978d0/kate-middleton-active-listening-prince-george.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2016 Royal Tour To Canada Of The Duke And Duchess Of Cambridge - Victoria, British Columbia","caption":"2016 Royal Tour To Canada Of The Duke And Duchess Of Cambridge - Victoria, British Columbia","creditText":"Danny Martindale—FilmMagic/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4507607/kate-middleton-prince-william-active-listening/","name":"Prince William and Kate Middleton Are the New Faces of This Parenting Technique"}}]}] ```