There are many revelations that have come out of Meghan's new reality show, With Love, Meghan, which is now available to stream on Netflix. Daniel Martin, a makeup artist and Meghan's bestie, went wedding cake testing with Meghan. Harry and Meghan’s son, Archie, is a budding fisherman. Meghan describes her fashion sense as 'high low.'
But among the more unlikely revelations is that Meghan describes herself as a 'latchkey kid.' Of course, this got everyone wondering - what does this strange phrase mean? Allow us to explain.
In episode two of With Love, Meghan, Meghan is with Mindy Kaling, an actress, comedian and one of Meghan's A-list pals who makes a cameo on the show. Meghan and Mindy became close over email, as they bonded over their children and the trials of motherhood. In the episode, Mindy asks Meghan what kind of food she grew up eating, and Meghan shares that she actually ate a lot of fast food as a 'latchkey kid', and she loved Jack-in-the-Box tacos.
What is a latchkey kid?
A latchkey child is one who is often home without adult supervision for some part of the day, especially after school until a parent returns from work. The word comes from the phrase 'latchkey', which refers to a key used to open a door by lifting a latch. It's thought that the term originated during World War II, when fathers were enlisted in the military, leaving working mothers struggling to get childcare, and children to come home to empty houses, requiring them to use a latch to enter.
Nowadays, children from single-parent working families are more likely to be 'latchkey kids', as parents may struggle to find consistent supervision across working hours. Latchkey kids then are notoriously independent as adults, a habit that starts when expected to be self-sufficient from an early age.
'My therapist describes me as a latchkey kid,' one Grazia reader shares. 'From about 11, I would travel far to get to and from school, coming to an empty house and be expected to sort my own dinner out. I had a lot of adult responsibilities as a child because that was the reality of our household with my mum working so late. There are positives because you learn to look after yourself, but it can also breed hyper-independence in adults - you struggle to relinquish control from things because you didn't grow up with a sense of being able to rely on others.'
It's true that latchkey kids are more likely to experience loneliness and anxiety, according to experts, with a lack of consistent parenting contributing to intimacy and trust issues later in life. Of course, no one child is the same.
This isn't the first time Meghan has opened up to Mindy about her childhood. On an episode of Meghan's former Archetypes podcast, she told Mindy she wasn't 'pretty' growing up and often went to school clubs so she could have lunch dates and he wouldn't have to sit alone, before referring to herself as the 'ugly duckling.'
Meghan's mother, Doria Ragland, is a yoga instructor who holds a degree in social work. She has worked several jobs over the course of her life, including as a social worker, travel agent, makeup artist and dressmaker. She split from Meghan's father, Thomas Markle, a cinematographer, when she was 20. After they split, Ragland brought up Meghan as a single mother.