That a child feels safe is essential for their development, a duty for the welfare society and a longing of families. But when we live in a world where bad news arrives everywhere, it is more difficult to maintain the sense of security.Wars, AI threat, climate emergency, floods, weather alerts, emergency kits... We want to protect them and spare them any suffering, but, at the same time, it is not a solution to deceive them by saying that it is all a lie.How do we do it? Two ideas:The first would be to lower the noise of the alarm: a smoke detector warns us when there is a fire. Let's imagine that this alarm rang every day: we would end up living stressed, scared, and in a state of alert. This is what happens to children if we let all the bad news reach them, especially if we have not prepared them or their brain to understand when the danger is real, exaggerated, or fake news.That is why it is important to reduce screen time and, above all, try to control what reaches them. If we know what they have seen or listen to the news with them, we can provide context, contribute critical thinking, and prevent them from ending up frightened by the catastrophism or exaggeration that some media outlets often use.And the second would be to strengthen them from within: avoiding all worries for them is overprotecting them, which ends up leaving them unprotected because we waste opportunities to train their resilience, adaptability, and inner strength. It would be like putting them in a bubble so they never feel fear, and when one day that fear arrived, they wouldn't know how to manage it because they hadn't been trained.Information, context and resources

Children are much stronger than we usually think. Let's trust them, because adaptability is an innate capacity of human nature. We just have to try not to annul it while we educate. Parents should, first, stop, look at them, and ask them: "What have you understood from what you just heard? What is it that worries you about this news?"Fear grows when there is uncertainty, that is to say, when information is missing, or when we only have a part of the information, the bad part. Completing it, contextualizing it, and helping them to think is educating them in inner strength.I remember that a couple of years ago, during the severe spring drought, a very distressed 5th-grade group arrived at the summer camp. They told me that it wasn't worth the effort or thinking about the future because the world would end before they turned thirty. They were convinced that, due to climate change, we would all die of thirst. I asked them: "And in countries where there is a desert, how do they manage? Do they all die of thirst?" They looked at each other in surprise and answered no. I remember how their expressions changed and some smiled. I explained to them that humans are extraordinary beings, also capable of doing beautiful things, of adapting to circumstances, of inventing solutions, and of overcoming enormous challenges.I believe that here lies our responsibility as adults: we cannot promise our children that nothing bad will ever happen, but we can train them so they know they will have resources to face these situations, such as pausing before a piece of news, thinking critically, asking questions to calm down, and feeling that the world is a safe place to grow up and live in.

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The school year begins, and with it, families set in motion an almost perfect machinery: the fashionable backpack, the wonderfully covered books, schedules squared to the millimeter, and WhatsApp groups in full swing. We try to anticipate everything so that our children begin school calmly and without difficulties. But, sometimes, in this legitimate attempt to protect them, we are literally leaving them unprotected, because we eliminate what will help them most to become strong: the small daily setbacks. The start of the school year is a magnificent moment to train resilience, especially when they haven't gotten the teacher they expected, or their best friend is in another class, or everyone says it will be a complicated year.

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Parents and mothers arrive at summer with an invisible backpack full of expectations. We want to make the most of each day, create unforgettable memories, make up for the time we haven't had during the school year, and ensure that our children will be super happy. But expectations often come with pressure. Social media, moreover, increase this anxiety when we see perfect families smiling in front of a sunset, relaxed and tanned parents, and siblings sharing the same shovel without arguing. And when we see others' photographs, we possibly have the feeling that only we are improvising.

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When summer arrives, it seems like we all have to do something extraordinary. Social media fills up with paradisiacal beaches, family trips, activities, unique experiences, and calendars so full that they even need a break.

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