The Princess of Wales joins 'Dadvengers' as part of Shaping Us campaign

The Princess of Wales joined a meeting of ‘Dadvengers’ in North London to highlight the important role that Dads play in their children’s earliest years. Dadvengers is a community which works to support dads on their journey through parenthood. It has a strong focus on mental wellbeing and supports new fathers in a variety of ways including through online training programmes, podcasts, and more recently the in-person ‘Dad Walks’. Dad Walks provide a new way for men to meet other fathers in their local community in an informal setting.

Dadvengers was founded by CBeebies presenter Nigel Clarke. It was born from a desire for fathers to be equally involved in raising a child and provides a much needed outlet for fathers to share the experiences and challenges involved in being a parent. The walks currently take place in two areas, North London and Norwich, with an ambition to roll them out across the country so that more Dads can take up the opportunity and benefit from the support on offer.

Her Royal Highness joined the Arnos Grove Dadvengers group where she met a group of dads and spoke to them about the important role they play in a child’s development, including in the months before they are even born and in the very earliest weeks and months of their lives.

She then joined the group on a ‘Dad Walk’ to the local park and heard about the support they give to one another through the Dadvengers network, helping them to look after their own well-being as well as supporting their families. The Princess was joined on her visit by DJ and songwriter, Jax Jones, who is one of The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood's Shaping Us campaign champions.

The Princess and The Royal Foundation launched the Shaping Us campaign in January, with the goal of highlighting how our relationships, experiences, and surroundings in our earliest years lay the foundations that shape the rest of our lives. Providing strong support for parents and carers during these years to give the sort of nurturing care which is so important to babies and very young children is essential and can have a life-changing impact on the children they are caring for.

Fathers, like any other caregivers, play a vital role in the social and emotional development of a child.  However, The Centre for Early Childhood's annual public perception survey, which was published earlier this year, found that men are significantly less aware than women of the extraordinary impact of the first five years of a child’s life.