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 whole wheat. The day there is vegetables as a first course and lentils as a second, the students (and actually all of us) suffer a brutal shock because for us, culturally, they are two first courses and we miss a second course. The changes in the canteen menus have added a bit more drama, if that were possible, to school meals, which have 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 public or private schools, from Girona or Penedès, the canteen issue is always a struggle and it is very difficult to get it right. Once a week, which almost always tends to coincide with the fateful legume day, I have to work in the dining hall at my school. And after many hours in the dining hall, I've come to the conclusion that, even if Ferran Adrià personally 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.

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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.

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Yesterday our four-year-old daughter went to her first birthday party. The first one. And it wasn't just any party: it was her best friend's. She had been talking about it for a week, excited, counting down the days, imagining that moment with immense enthusiasm.

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Meetings with children's tutors are the opportunity to know what their life is like in the microcosm where they spend a large part of the day, at least from the age of six to sixteen. If there are no major problems, one or two meetings per academic year are usually scheduled, with meetings lasting around an hour. Although lately, teachers and families also communicate throughout the year, via email, when they deem it appropriate.Both Montse Jiménez, a secondary school teacher at Fundació Vedruna Catalunya Educació, and Núria Sabaté, a primary school teacher at Escola Marià Fortuny in Reus, recommend asking, in addition to academic questions, about your children's personal development. There is life beyond notes

Jiménez considers that most families are mainly concerned about grades, focusing on results even though the reports are qualitative and include tutor observations that assess transversal skills: “It still weighs heavily on 'How is my child doing?', and they refer to how they are doing in terms of results”. Along the same lines, Sabaté recommends that families ask questions to ensure they understand the tutors' perception of how their children are in class, if they participate, are happy, integrated, and get along well with their classmates: “To begin with, families should become aware of how their children are doing at school, and if there is anything that concerns the family, this is the time to discuss it”. In these meetings, parents can be interested in their children's overall development, progress and process, their achievements, and if they are improving. “Knowing their strengths, the difficulties they might have, their level, or if they are happy at school”, suggests the teacher. Therefore, it is the perfect opportunity to learn more about your children, beyond the reports. The use of technology

One of the recurring questions that have been arising lately from families is the use of technology in the center, for what, with which applications or platforms and with what supervision. “It is an issue that increasingly occupies families. These meetings can be a space to discuss it,” says the teacher. Meetings with families are also an opportunity for the center to ask – not to scrutinize, they say – about the uses of technologies and screens. “Sometimes we find primary school children who fall asleep in class or have trouble keeping up with the pace,” says the teacher, and she comments that they usually take the opportunity to share good uses of digital devices with families. Bond of trust

The teachers insist on the importance of weaving a bond of trust between the family and the school, “each of us wants the best for our children and students, we need to find points of convergence, focus more on the possible solution than on the problem”, proposes Jiménez. These spaces are perfect for complicity between the school and the family, for families to ask what they can do at home so that their children improve with what they need, and that these are not always shortcomings related to academic matters, they can also be personal or social skills. “The more fluid the communication, the better. It is worth setting common goals, because when the family and the school work together, the children perceive it quickly and it encourages them to improve. This is what we all want, for children and young people to achieve the best of themselves”, explains Sabaté. The two teachers recall the importance of asking about the person in all their dimensions, “they may have good academic results, but they need to improve personal aspects”, says Jiménez. “In such an individualistic society, it is necessary to form empathetic citizens, capable of weaving complicities, and who work for the common good. All together we must worry about what each student does and how they are”, she concludes.

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These past few weeks, the media have been filled with headlines referring to the reactions and consequences of the announcement made by some groups of teachers, who have expressed their refusal to go on camps as a measure of pressure to improve the conditions of the educational system.Here are a few as an example: “Going on school trips is not our obligation”, “Teachers against children: school trips are a right”, “Students from Valls refuse to attend class due to the cancellation of school trips [...]”, "The end of the educational contract", “Unease among families due to the threat from teachers”, “Families believe that stopping school trips is breaking the rules of the game”, “School trip centers fear the teachers' strike”, “Warning from school trip centers about teachers' protest: we are in COVID numbers”...It is very interesting to be able to interpret the nuances of these reactions: from the article published in this same newspaper by the director of relations at Fundesplai, to Ricard Ustrell's apron on Catalunya Ràdio, you can dip bread everywhere. But what I find truly extraordinary is the ease with which these headlines are twisting the issue. Let's get this straight: the teaching teams are the group that has most believed in the importance of organizing the colony experience for the children in our schools. We have been doing it for decades without receiving any kind of compensation beyond the gratitude of the families and the children themselves. We have done it selflessly with the conviction that this experience is fundamental for many educational aspects.

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When she was a child, without knowing why, she already asked to live in Catalonia. And now, at 57, she knows she will never return to her country of origin. Sandra Monge Palladino was born in 1969 in the Argentine city of Rosario, into a family originally from the Italian Piedmont. Educated in a ideologically very diverse environment, she has always been linked to anti-capitalist left-wing movements. During her childhood, she suffered the blows of the military dictatorship of General Videla (1976-1983), by which she has always remained marked.

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Watching a child is hypnotic. You look at them closely and often see things in them that you recognize yourself in. And when you see something you don't recognize, you marvel, thinking where they must have gotten it from. One day, your young son told you: "Death has entered me and I don't know what's wrong with me, but today it's not leaving me."

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Asking for forgiveness is a gesture that dignifies the one who does it, comforts the one who receives it, and opens the door to restoring damaged bonds. Whoever takes the step learns to empathize with those who have suffered the consequences of their wrongdoing. Afterwards, the relationship between the two will benefit. However, not everything is immediate. Accepting it also costs. Emotions disorient, time is needed, and it is not enough to say it from emptiness. Some refuse to ask for forgiveness because they associate it with the moral repentance of some religions; but, far from it, forgiveness is in tune with essential human values and the idea of virtue. Children and young people, obviously, are not excluded from being able to experience it. All that is needed is good accompaniment.

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Ramon Mirabet (Sant Feliu de Llobregat, 1984) is a musician, singer and producer. He presents Per sempre més (Columna), an autobiographical and musical book that transforms grief into a celebration of life.

Ramon comes from a family of artists. “My maternal grandfather went from town to town with a friend and recited poems. And it was like that for years until he arrived in Tarragona and in the audience he saw a girl (my grandmother) and they fell in love. They followed their passion, which was circus and variety theatre. She sang rancheras and did a number with puppies, and he was the presenter and imitated Cantinflas”.

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At just fifteen days old, Bruna spent her first weekend in a house that, not long before, her parents and a dozen other families had jointly rented to share time and leisure. She is now twenty years old and, although she doesn't go as often as before, she is happy to have it available. “I remember the excitement of Friday afternoons, when I knew we were going,” explains Bruna, “we had a great time, we went on excursions and we had a cabin”. 

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Since the first edition of l'Embassa't there have been families with children, because we have always ensured that the space was safe, prioritizing comfort and with friendly proposals. The night schedule, obviously, is no longer for children. But for more than 10 years we organized the Petit Embassa’t.Don't do it anymore...

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Courage, energy, fun, cooperation, shrewdness, gratitude, admiration... These are some of the terms that are intertwined throughout the story The grandmother has a lot of energy (Editorial Octaedro) with the energy that Carme Puxan, the protagonist of the story, carries throughout her journey in Ecuador. The book, written by her son, Francesc Balagué, illustrated by Joana Bruna, and available since April at Joanabruna.com, tells the adventures of the grandmother of Luka, 12 years old, and Kael, 9 years old, who also appear in the story.

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“My children started bringing their partners home when they were seventeen. It was logical for our way of educating. For me, sexuality is as normal as a kiss; no one should hide it”, says Elena Sánchez, mother of a daughter, Mar, who is 22 years old, and a son, Javi, who is 20 years old. The reality is that Elena is a statistical exception: 40% of Spanish families have never or almost never talked about sex education with their children, according to data from the FAD Juventud Foundation (2025). According to the report, sexual practices and pornography are still pending subjects: families prefer to talk about “more comfortable” topics like love or respect, but they avoid delving into the “how” and the “where”.

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Sant Jordi has ended and we save for next year the phrases we always repeat to ourselves: that it's the most beautiful day of the year, that it should be a holiday, that if some country had this festival we would envy them, what luck to enjoy a day that is about reading and loving. Exactly, a festival where we put books at the center and where we make the best-selling rankings, which doesn't mean the most read. I wonder how many of the books bought for Sant Jordi are left on nightstands, waiting for their moment. When it's summer, when the children go to camps, when this project is over, when I'm less tired. With reading, we do a bit like with life, we keep waiting for the optimal moment without realizing that it is now and today that we should read more, go out more, or rest more. And I tell this to those of you who now have young children and are more in the pit: they will not be small again, but you will not be the age and energy you have now either.

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When she was 6 years old, teacher Maryam El Hamidi (Tangier, 1994) experienced firsthand the ordeal her students have recently gone through. With her mother and sister, they came to live in Castelló d’Empúries to reunite with her father in the year 2000. "In the schools where I have worked, they see me as a mirror. Especially women, they see a role model. Perhaps I haven't gone through the same circumstances as them, but I know their needs. I give them confidence and motivation. If the road is long, I make it shorter," assures El Hamidi.

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You are often asked questions that throw you off balance. I remember we were at a country house that we shared with friends and the little one was talking to some slightly older creatures who were listening to her with their mouths agape. When we asked her what they were talking about, she said: “Mom, isn’t it true that from the vagina comes discharge, blood, life, and death?”. It was a very powerful moment, and at the same time a precious opportunity to talk about it naturally. Being a mother is a very lively job, constantly transforming. It is beautiful, but also demanding, because it involves accompanying without controlling, listening, and knowing when to give space.What do you find burdensome?

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In Catalonia, there is a male name that has topped the list of most given names for three decades. Specifically, between 1990 and 2009. It is striking, however, that before 1940 and up to 1959 it was a practically residual name. For example, during the decade of 1940 to 1949 it was only given about fifty times; therefore, it is difficult to currently find a grandfather named that, while from 2000 to 2009 almost 15,000 families chose it for their babies. We are talking about the name Marc, which celebrates its name day on April 25.

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