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.

3Cat's SX3, with funding from Grup Transversal, this week opened the doors of Fantàstix, a new cultural, family, and immersive experience focused on the power of stories, imagination, and the active participation of children. Located in the Sagrada Família neighborhood, the space, which was a former 2,000-square-meter parking lot, has been transformed into a "factory of imagination," where the narrative focuses on the premise of recovering the power of storytelling, which has disappeared from the world. The project's intention is to become a new meeting point for families, the educational world, and Catalan children's and youth culture.

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."

We have become extraordinarily skilled at choosing, practically in everything. We choose the best school, the best extracurricular activity, the most ergonomic backpack, the BPA-free lunchbox, and the flat-soled sneakers. We choose sugar-free, we choose to restrict mobile phones, we choose respectful clothing as if clothing could behave disrespectfully, and we choose toys with a Montessori label.

“Children don’t just feel conflict, they breathe it”. Psychologist specialized in mediation and conciliation Javier Wilhelm highlights that when two families go through a conflict situation and their children share a class, this has a direct implication on the minors’ well-being. The school can play an important role as a link between the parties, but the key factor that will determine the extent of the consequences are the families involved. The way they manage their disagreement –with the emotions it entails– can lead to a serious estrangement between the children and, among adults, open a communicative abyss.

Fantasy books, mystery books, dystopian stories, personal diaries, and traditional tales with block letters, cursive letters, or print letters. And sagas, many sagas. Students from Institut Escola Sant Felip Neri in Barcelona, aged 4 to 15, have recommended their favorite books to us, as well as those that once opened the door to the enjoyment of reading. These are their recommendations for this Sant Jordi.

There are a couple of hours left until a new performance ofThe ferryman At the Teatre Lliure de Montjuïc in Barcelona, ​​eleven-year-old Bruna Luz is restless and starts dancing before going on stage, while she waits for her turn to have her hair done, change, and put on her microphone. Beside her, ten-year-old Bruna Armengol joins in her games and laughs nonstop while waiting for the same. In a little while, they will become Mercy and Honor Carney, and their characters will travel to a rural area of ​​County Armagh in Northern Ireland. It will be a day in late August 1981, and the Carney family will be celebrating Harvest Day. But the festive family day will end in tragedy.

Next weekend, L'Hospitalet de l'Infant will once again become a meeting point for construction enthusiasts with the fourth edition of HospiBrick & Click, the largest joint LEGO and Playmobil fair in Catalonia. Last year's fair welcomed nearly 6,000 visitors from the town itself, other parts of Catalonia, and cities such as Zaragoza, Bilbao, Valencia, and Seville. The event will take place in the sports pavilion and will feature over 300 square meters of exhibition space. Visitors will be able to admire twelve Playmobil dioramas and approximately 120 square meters of LEGO creations—forty square meters more than last year—assembled by members of the Somosclicks (Playmobil) and Hispalug (LEGO) associations. In addition to the exhibition area, there will be two specialized sales stands and a play area. bricks LEGO for the little ones.

Around 1,500 people, according to municipal sources – 3,000, according to the organizers – demonstrated this Saturday in Barcelona despite the rain to demand improvements in the working conditions of staff in the 0-3 age group. The demonstration, which began in front of the Post Office building and ended in front of the Catalan Parliament, was organized by the 0-3 Platform of Catalonia under the slogan "0 excuses, 3 reasons: justice, equity, and future." Chanting "We are education, not daycare," the demonstrators not only demanded better conditions for professionals in the sector, but also advocated for a reduction in the student-teacher ratio and the right of children to a quality, equitable public education from the first day of life. The Platform's spokesperson, Joan Cela, stated that Catalan daycare centers have the highest ratios in Europe and demanded that "children be put at the center." "We want to be treated like the second cycle of early childhood education; we want to have the same rights," Cela asserted. Throughout the march, various signs could be seen, such as "If there's a shortage of staff in schools, children and adults alike suffer," "Childhood policies with pedagogical criteria," "Lower ratios, more hugs," and "We fight for the 0-3 level." "We have a very complicated situation, with five different models, involving private companies and city councils," Cela emphasized. However, she affirmed that people came to the march from all over, in an unprecedented demonstration. "An improvement in working conditions is necessary, as well as lower ratios and the creation of a 0-3 age group chart so that all of this can begin to be discussed," she concluded.

At Marta's house, with two girls, clothes haven't been a big expense. Throughout their childhood, they've made use of everything that friends' or cousins' daughters no longer needed. It's come to them through the seams, and that's why, even as little girls, both have been able to choose what they like and discard what they don't. They only bought the most basic items, like leggings, which are difficult to pass down. Both the older girl, 12, and the younger one, 8, have agreed on one thing for the past few years: they haven't worn skinny jeans because, apart from not finding them comfortable, they arrived just as wide-legged or flared trousers were back in style.

Once a week, seventy preschool and primary school children at the Betània-Patmos school in Barcelona's Sarrià-Sant Gervasi district participate in a midday chess session. This activity has been offered as an extracurricular activity by the school to students from the fourth grade onward since 2011. "Parents really like it because it helps clear their minds and concentrate. But the children are also drawn to it," says Uriel Jiménez, the school's extracurricular coordinator. He adds that this is because the instructors teach chess using a playful methodology. For this reason, he says, it's one of the extracurricular activities with a higher enrollment rate than dropout rate throughout the school year. The Betània-Patmos school is one of 150 educational centers in the metropolitan area where the Catalan Chess School (ECADE) teaches chess. In most schools, chess is offered as an extracurricular activity, although some centers also hold regular classes during school hours and others offer occasional workshops. ECADE was founded in 2022 through the merger of two existing chess schools: the Barcelona Chess School and the Miguel Illescas Chess School. It also functions as an academy, with around 80 children attending afternoon classes at its premises, and as a club, with 40 members. In addition, they organize chess, board game, and strategy camps during Christmas, Easter, and summer breaks. In total, they have 38 instructors on staff who teach chess to 4,000 students each year.

The Tres Pins School in Barcelona is located in the heart of Montjuïc mountain. The tranquility of this idyllic setting has been disrupted since last October by a man who has been throwing stones at the school, neighbors, families, and buses, as has been reported. The world on RAC1 And the ARA has confirmed it. Since then, the families have lived in fear: "We've been living in fear for months," explains M., the mother of a girl at the school and a member of the AFA. Now the Mossos d'Esquadra have arrested the individual who matched the described profile, and they assure that, since the arrest, "no similar incidents have been recorded."

In 2022, Daniel A. Abrams, professor of psychiatry at Stanford University, published in The Journal of Neuroscience Research on what happens in the brains of boys and girls at age thirteen shows that the neural centers involved in feelings of reward stop activating when they hear their mother's voice. Conversely, when they hear unfamiliar voices, the neural networks associated with pleasant sensations are activated. Therefore, when parents believe their children aren't listening to them, it's not just a guess; science has shown that they most likely aren't.

"For me The Tatano It's a fun and magical memory from my childhood. I spent many family moments sharing recipes, crafts, imagination, reading, and lots of laughter," says Xavier, from Alella, who is now 23. "Roser has arrived." The Tatano"What a rush there was when I heard that phrase! There weren't enough hands to tear open the plastic wrapping of the magazine and start reading Pere Sense Miedo," recalls Roser Maria, 25, from Ferreries.The Tatano It connected me to the world of reading. My older brothers read the Strong Horse And I imitated them by reading. The Tatano",” says Martí, from Maçaners, who is 24 years old. The three of them tell their story in issue number 241 of the iconic magazine, which is celebrating its twentieth anniversary on newsstands. And like them, a series of tataners Those who grew up with the stories of Pere Sense Miedo, Rita Pinyada, and Nono and Petunia, among many others, share how being readers during childhood shaped them and the fond memories they cherish.

I have borrowed the title of the book written by the educator Philippe Meirieu to write these reflections on the complexity of introducing children to the world of writing. It is a short book, included in the new Minerva collection published by the Rosa Sensat Teachers' Association, reviving the name of the collection offered at the beginning of the 20th century by the Barcelona Provincial Council and later by the Commonwealth of Catalonia.

Before becoming a mother, I had very firm convictions about who I was and what my path would be. I didn't imagine the extent to which motherhood transforms you completely, the extent to which I myself would become a different person. I thought it would be harder for me to stop prioritizing myself, and that I would sometimes experience it with unease or as a loss.

Fourteen-year-old Fiona Olivé lives with a constant cough and runny nose. It's as if she's always sick. During the cold season, her family is always on high alert to prevent her from getting seriously ill, as any respiratory infection can easily become complicated and develop into pneumonia. The young girl is allergic to various types of dust mites, grasses, and cats, and for a time, there was also a suspicion that she was allergic to eggplants, which was recently ruled out after controlled food exposure at the Sant Pau Hospital's day hospital. However, for the two years she lived with this suspicion, she had to act like a person with allergies. de facto to this vegetable. During this period, explains Karla Islas, her mother, the hardest thing for her was having to constantly be aware of the allergy "and, before eating anything, having to ask or be alert in case it contained eggplant." The young woman "also found it difficult at school," she adds.

Some medical terms are more difficult to understand than others, especially when discussing complex pathologies or rare tests. Children, however, may initially encounter this difficulty with even the most basic vocabulary, encompassing everyday health terms and related concepts. For this reason, medical vocabulary specialists from Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) in Barcelona have collaborated with over 3,000 children and young people from schools and institutes throughout Catalonia to develop a platform to explain medical terms to children in their own words, using new digital and multimedia formats. This platform, called Diximed, is aimed at children and families, as well as pediatricians and educators. "You have to approach the child's needs, but keeping in mind a psycholinguistic theory that says nothing is learned in leaps and bounds, but always from what is already known. And if what a child knows is incorrect and no one explains it to them, they will always end up carrying that misconception," says Rosa Estopà, principal investigator of the Lex project, a research group at Iulaterm. To carry out this initiative, the participating children were asked to explain what they knew about certain words, such as flu, louse, vaccine, coronavirus, cancer either chickenpoxAmong many others, they were asked to draw them. "We told them they had to do it as if they were explaining it to a child their age who came from another planet," Estopà recalls.