Princess Victoria
She reveals a fun parenting trick for walks
© Dana Press
Princess Victoria reveals a clever trick on how she and Prince Daniel encourage their children Princess Estelle and Prince Oscar to go for walks.
“Mom, I can’t take it anymore. I don’t want to go any further. I don’t feel like it.” Sentences that Princess Victoria, 46, must have heard from her daughter Princess Estelle, 11, and son Prince Oscar, 7. But in a radio interview with “Naturmorgon” on the “P1” station during a walk in the forest in Tyresta National Park, the Crown Princess reveals a clever trick to encourage her kids to go for a walk.
Princess Victoria: “We have a trick”
In an interview with “Naturmorgon” presenter Mats Ottosson, 55, she tells how she and husband Prince Daniel, 50, ensure that Estelle and Oscar get enough exercise. “We have a trick that I would like to share with you. Take a tennis ball with you. That’s the best way,” said the princess.
Royal secret weapon: the tennis ball
What’s the deal with the tennis ball? It’s simple: “If there are more than two or more than one, you can play catch and then your progress is completely different. You just try to catch your opponent. You hit someone with a tennis ball, and it’s not that easy , so you get further and further away as you travel. You keep the fun of walking and running for all ages. You move a lot more when you’re traveling with a tennis ball, especially if you’re constantly missing it.”
You read that right: The Swedish royal family apparently throws a tennis ball at each other while out for a walk. But the Crown Princess also admits shortcomings: “Daniel can hit very well and Oscar and Estelle can run very well. I’m very bad at hitting.”
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Princess Victoria loves nature
Victoria believes that you need to take time to go outside – this is especially important for children. Spending time in nature gives you a feeling of calm, but also increases your fitness and energy. It would also be good to rest your eyes on something other than a flickering screen. You don’t have to go into the deepest forest, just be in nature, she explains. This leads to the joy of discovery and curiosity about the surroundings. “There’s no such thing as a quiet child, so you run and jump and climb and run, and that’s so important for motor skills and so on. It comes naturally when you go out,” said Princess Victoria.
She and her family live in the beautiful Haga Castle in Solna, which is surrounded by large green spaces and forests. Victoria tries to take advantage of this and reveals a little family secret in the interview: somewhere in the park she and her family have a special place that they call the “Pancake Stone”.
The walk to the “Pancake Stone”
“We called a big stone in the park ‘Pancake Stone’ very early on, when the children were still very small,” quotes “Svensk Damtidning” from the “Naturmorgon” interview. “It was the right distance, and then you had a destination, so to speak, and it became very popular. So it wasn’t a problem to get the kids there. And that was a good thing, because then you’re inventing on the way in and out “Something on the way back,” says the Crown Princess in an interview. By the way, the stone was named that because there were pancakes as a reward upon arrival, explains Victoria when asked.
Sources used: Dana Press, sverigesradio.se/naturmorgon, svenskdam.se