“At first I was afraid of everything: of the food, that something might happen to them, I was even afraid of them sleeping away from home. But after the first experience, the girl returned very happy and the fear has passed,” explains Nabila, mother of three children, about the summer camps. Her daughter Yosra, eleven years old, has already been to camps twice, once with school and once in the summer. Her son Marouan, 16 years old, has also been – this year will be the fourth time – and the youngest, Omar, has not dared to go yet, although Nabila has hopes.

At home we juggle our diverse neurodivergencies -especially high abilities and others too- and this makes us quite wacky artists. Arashi has been focused on manga for a couple of years; he is capable of creating complex stories and well-rounded characters, with very careful drawing technique. Ausiàs has designed about thirty fabric animals that he has cut, stuffed, and sewn, asking for just the right amount of help: "We won't buy you any more stuffed animals, as you won't fit them in the room anymore!"How is your way of being a mother changing?

When we talk about health, we often think about habits related to diet or physical activity. However, we know well that health is a much broader concept that includes physical, emotional, social, and community dimensions. Today, in a context where data continues to alert us that children and adolescents are spending more hours in front of screens, doing less physical activity, having less healthy diets, and experiencing an increase in emotional distress, it is necessary to reinforce those spaces that contribute to their integral well-being.Summer camps and colonies are one of these privileged spaces. And precisely now, when school holidays are about to begin and the time for dolce far niente increases considerably, it is important to highlight the role they play in the health and development of children and adolescents. Because beyond being a leisure alternative when school ends, they offer educational experiences that have a direct impact on their present and future well-being.

When our son or daughter starts school, beyond what they learn in the classroom, we expect them to make their first friends. We expect it so much that some of the questions we parents ask most when leaving school are "who did you play with?" or "who is your best friend?" Often, it is difficult for the child to answer us or resolve all these doubts because they are still too young, in Kindergarten, to explain it, and it is also common to resort to interviews with the tutors to find out. If the answer is that they play quite a lot alone or don't have a fixed group of friends, but rather play with all their classmates, some alarms might go off. But, are these concerns founded?

What is the impact of digital environments on children and adolescents? Everyone has an approximate idea of the effects that early or intensive exposure to electronic devices can have, but until now there was no study with such an important and representative scope as the one just published by Unicef Spain, in collaboration with the University of Santiago de Compostela, the General Council of Computer Engineering and the entity Red.es, and which was presented this Friday at Palau Macaya in Barcelona.From the report, titled Childhood, Adolescence and Digital Well-being. An Approach from Health, Coexistence and Social Responsibility it is inferred that the presence of mobile devices is important. The first mobile phone is acquired on average at 11.02 years old, which means that between 5th and 6th grade, almost 40% of children have a smartphone. A figure that doubles in three months and rises to 78.3% the summer before starting secondary school, as if it were a kind of transitional ritual towards secondary school.

Sílvia Munt (Barcelona, 1957) is an actress, screenwriter, and director. Last Gaudí Award of Honor. In the autumn, she will premiere a documentary film about Mercè Rodoreda and will direct the play Panorama des del pont.

She was born in the Clot neighborhood, in Barcelona. “But I spent my early childhood and also part of my adolescence in the Canary Islands, because my mother is French but her father is from the Canary Islands. On the one hand, I feel very urban, very much from the neighborhood. My father was from Clot. But, on the other hand, the island, the way of understanding life there... is important to me... And I am a bit of this mix”.

]]>

17 grams per child. This was the amount of food that the students of the Josep Maria de Sagarra school threw in the trash during lunchtime on May 13, when "Criatures" went there to get to know the "If I think, I don't throw away" project firsthand. This is one of the lowest records since the Barcelona school implemented the project in the dining area, nine courses ago. It did so at the request of Aldara Sarabia, director of the Midday Educational Time at the center, who clearly recalls the moment the project saw the light of day.

]]>

One of the most surprising things that has happened to us as a family is that our son Artur was a choirboy at Montserrat. This is something that wasn't in our plans at all. When he was eight years old, one day he told us he wanted to be a choirboy. The first thing we thought was that some of his grandparents, all very devoted to La Moreneta, had filled his head. But no. No? How was it, then?

]]>

The end of the school year is approaching, and with it, a scene that repeats in many homes with school-aged children: they arrive with various – if not many – crafts they've made at school, in after-school activities... And the questions return: what should we do with all this? Do we keep it all? Do we throw it all away? Do we leave it at home and gradually discard it after a few days without the children noticing?

]]>

In Europe, the debate about children, adolescents, and technology is intensifying. There is increasing pressure to limit access to social networks and strengthen age verification mechanisms. This shift responds to a legitimate concern. But, even so, the question remains too simple: how many hours do they spend in front of a screen? Reducing the problem to a sum of hours is convenient, but it distances us from what truly matters.

]]>

It can be love, protection, and welcome; but it doesn't give it. It can be care, attention, and dedication; but it is absent. Not having her because she has died is an intense and painful absence; knowing she is here and realizing she is far away is also grief. The figure of the mother when she does not offer shelter can cause a void in the child, which will be realized over the years. Dysfunctions that can manifest in very diverse ways, such as insecurities and emotional friction: by looking at them, fortunately, they can be transformed.

]]>

From the moment of birth, Jone needed me but in a disconcerting way, very different from anything I had imagined.See that your baby doesn't need you.

]]>

“So far, things were going great, but you arrived and it all started to go wrong.” This is the typical comment grandparents make when we go to pick up the children. Sometimes we interpret that the child behaves worse with their parents, but, as Dr. Montse Arellano, a neuropediatrician from the pediatric service at Hospital Universitari Mútua Terrassa, points out, in many cases the opposite is true: "It is with them that they feel much more secure”. Children spend a large part of the day striving to adapt to school, with other adults, with friends... And there – Arellano states – they tend to behave more reservedly because there are rules and less trust to express what they feel. In reality, a boy or girl letting loose in the presence of their parents and not others, she points out, is usually "a reflection of emotional security", given that they know they are in a trusted environment where they can show themselves as they are, even when they are tired or overwhelmed.

]]>

"Too much vegetable protein", "Excess legumes", "What do we do about sugar?" The menus served in schools – in accordance with regulations and under nutritional criteria – generate a disparity of opinions among families. In Catalonia, 49.5% of children use the school canteen service, according to data from the Program for the Review of School Menus of Catalonia (PReME), based on the centers evaluated. Some schools have their own kitchens and others are supplied by companies that serve them meals. The objective is, in all cases, to offer menus adapted to needs, whether medical or for religious or moral reasons, which go beyond food: sufficient time to eat in peace – if the din allows – added to a care service before and after sitting at the table.

]]>

Generosity is not born out of pressure, but out of respect for children's times and needs, and out of support that sets limits with empathy and without imposition.“You must share” is one of the most repeated phrases in parks, schools, and family gatherings. It is said with good intentions, almost as an automatic response, as if it were an unquestionable rule of coexistence. But what if this ingrained demand were interfering with a much deeper learning? What if, instead of educating in generosity, we were promoting responses based on pressure, obligation, or even fear of conflict? Often behind this imperative lies the adult need to resolve situations quickly, to avoid tears or tensions, or even to look good rather than to accompany what is truly a learning process. We turn “sharing” into an immediate duty, with no room to understand what the child is feeling or what they need. And in this apparently harmless gesture, we may be overlooking a key opportunity: to help them build, at their own pace, an authentic understanding of what it means to give, to wait, and to consider others.Sharing is not a simple or spontaneous gesture, no matter how often we take it for granted. It is a complex skill that is built up little by little and involves a whole series of internal learning processes: recognizing that others also have desires and needs, understanding that giving something up does not equate to losing it forever, learning to wait without anxiety, reading the emotions of others, and, above all, feeling that what is one's own is protected. Without this foundation of security, genuine generosity can hardly emerge.

]]>

Olivia, the great one, was born in Manhattan and lived there for her first few months. Then, we moved to Chicago and Frida was born there. But they have no memories of New York. The character of Burricorn originates from a series of comic strips I created in 2010 when I lived in New York. It was titled Another day at work and told the story of a donkey who worked disguised as a unicorn. It tried to reflect the lives of people who move to that city with the dream of dedicating themselves to the world of entertainment and, to achieve it, they have to play a role.Your daughters appear in the comic.

]]>

In school canteens, we have run out of croquettes. We no longer have banana yogurts, and the macaroni is wholemeal. The day there is a vegetable starter and lentils as a main course, the students (and indeed all of us) suffer a brutal shock because culturally for us they are two starters and we miss a main course. The changes in the canteen menus have added a bit more drama, if that were possible, to school food, which has always been in the spotlight. I have attended courses on communication in schools, and all attendees agree: one of the most common complaints is about food. Whether we are from a public or private school, from Girona or Penedès, the canteen issue is always a struggle, and it's very difficult to get it right. Once a week, which almost always tends to coincide with the fateful day of legumes, I have to serve meals at my school. And after many hours of serving meals under my belt, I have come to the conclusion that, even if Ferran Adrià himself came to spherify olives, there would be complaints.

]]>

All testimonies in this report are real cases that have preferred to remain anonymous.If you don't play with me, I won't invite you to my party. If you want me to do that, you'll have to give me a euro. Now I'm angry (and I won't talk to you for days). You are my best friend (but I only play with you when we are alone, when we are at school, I ignore you or I even promote a vote to see who dislikes you in the class). These are seemingly innocent and typical phrases and situations for children – more so for girls – that can be a warning sign of a controlling relationship disguised as friendship. 

]]>

When Maria (19 years old) started her first year of high school, she dropped all her extracurricular activities: “I was so stressed that just thinking about the hours I would have to dedicate to them made it clear to me, but it was a terrible decision; before the end of the course, I started to feel anxious, I spent the day studying”, she recalls. Now that she is finishing her first year of physiotherapy studies, she admits that she would do it very differently. In fact, when he started second year of high school, he picked up an extracurricular activity again, and little by little he found the balance between studying, leisure, spending time with friends, and taking care of himself. “I dedicated fewer hours to studying but I was more productive and happier”, she states. The false time thieves

What happened to Maria is common: adolescence arrives and the number of hours dedicated to extracurricular activities plummets. “Often the changes start with the type of extracurriculars they do in secondary school, which tend to be more geared towards training”, comments Òscar Bretau, emotional counselor and coach at Escola IPSE in Barcelona. In general, English and sports practice are the most widespread, although girls dedicate fewer hours to physical activity. During high school, when students tend to feel the pressure to achieve good academic results, it is recommended to “find a certain balance between studies and extracurriculars.” We must stop believing that “tivities done outside of class time are a waste of time,” points out Bretau. But he also adds that we cannot lose sight of the fact that a brain that is too busy and stressed does not perform adequately. “If all free time is used to achieve goals, performance will decrease and they will self-sabotage.” Besides recommending extracurriculars that can be a breath of fresh air, Bretau recalls the importance of doing nothing and sleeping a minimum of eight hours: “It is impossible for them to perform if they have not rested enough.” Fewer group activities and more 'scrolling'

Joan Carles Folia, educational advisor and coach, explains that it is common for young people to stop doing extracurricular activities upon reaching adolescence: “Around 11 or 12 years old, social bonds change, there is a hormonal explosion, and their interests begin to change”. Bretau also believes that there are significant differences between this generation of adolescents and previous ones: “Now they have the infinite scroll at their fingertips, which is very harmful to all brains but especially to the adolescent brain”. Technology, which is now presented as an alternative for non-class hours, attracts more attention from adolescents than any other sports, cultural, or leisure activity.

]]>

We decided to have a creature without thinking too much about it. And thank goodness, because I tend to overthink things. We were excited and we knew it would never be the perfect time. I didn't even consider the arguments against it. I had no idea where I was getting myself into and the journey has been amazing.Six months after the birth, we were confined.

]]>