Congratulations to everyone because we are one step away from overcoming September, which would be like a huge Monday in which everything starts up again to, most of the time, stay right where it already was. If you have children in your care, you will have experienced an extra point of stress because, as Laura Camps wrote in this newspaper: “The bureaucracy of child-rearing is a job in itself, the fourth workday.” Especially for mothers, because care is a feminized task to which, says UN Women, they dedicate 2.8 hours more per day than men do. With this, I don't think I am revealing any exclusive, because sometimes we can call statistics science, but also confirmation. However, let's talk about the why. Is there something that compels us, women, to care more? Popular culture, always one step ahead in terms of spite, speaks of a “nothing box” that allows men to “go blank” and not think about anything for certain periods. But this, let's be fair, has no scientific evidence. What has been studied are the differences between male and female brains and the conclusion, grosso modo, is that we cannot conclude anything because science, as Jorge Wagensberg summarized in one of the aphorisms he wrote when he was not designing sensational museums like the CosmoCaixa, is “to observe to investigate, to investigate to know, and to know to live in uncertainty.” One example is enough: an article in Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews from 2021 analyzed three decades of studies on male and female brains and concluded that the differences do not go much further than size (11% larger in men). But a commentary published shortly after responded that, although it agreed with many ideas, it would be necessary to take into account other factors (hormones, social experiences, environment...) to analyze it properly.

When I was writing the book, the stories that impacted me the most were those in which parents lost their children not because of death, but due to circumstances caused by the parents themselves.

One day, when my daughters were little, we were queuing at the butcher's shop, they were tired and threw a tantrum. I was also tired and embarrassed by their tantrum, because I felt that everyone was looking at me, and I handled it as best I could. I don't remember what I said to them, but they calmed down. Then, a woman who was waiting congratulated me for having done well. I haven't seen her again, and considering that in Castellterçol we all know each other, it was strange, but at that moment she gave me a lot of confidence. As if a fairy had touched me with her magic wand.

The concept of family at home has become more extensive for us, and the one in charge of explaining it to me was my youngest son, who is now seven years old. Not long ago, when I proposed a whole slew of plans to do as a family on the weekend, he replied: “Okay, mom, but with whom will we do this, with the small family, the medium one, or the big one?”. Suddenly, we had three families, from the smallest to the largest, like all the objects and utensils in the three bears' home. He soon clarified his definition and who was part of each.

Among the thousands of parenting books and manuals currently filling bookstores, we come across the brief essay In the Age of Child-Things:Ensayos contra la crianza como emprendimiento, by Santiago Gerchunoff (Buenos Aires, 1977), where the philosopher, writer, and university and high school teacher dissects modern parenting and how it has become professionalized to the point that children have turned into an object to be improved. The book is a collection of short essays he wrote some time ago while raising his daughters, who are now 13 and 19 years old, readapted with a common thread: the concept of child-things.What are thing children?

Vladimir Putin wants to turn large families into the traditional Russian family. But while only 5% of households are made up of a father, a mother, and three or more children, almost 40% of families are single-parent and, in the vast majority of cases, matriarchal. Katia and Anya – fictitious names to preserve their anonymity –, a mother and daughter aged 45 and 11 respectively, are an example of this archetypal model in a society historically marked by high male mortality, the central role of women in care, and, after the fall of the USSR, by high divorce rates.

A video recorded in Brazil, showing parents making their son believe he has worms in his stomach from eating too many sweets, has generated enormous controversy. In the images, the parents show him a fake ultrasound in which a supposed worm appears to be moving inside his stomach. The boy, who still has a sweet in his mouth, ends up crying and promising to stop eating them.

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.

I didn't have it easy when, at eighteen, I dropped out of university to study dramatic art at the Institut del Teatre. My father opposed it and tried to make me change my mind, but I carried on regardless. Over the years, he ended up accepting it. At home, we have always tried to pass on to them that the most important thing is to do things out of vocation. We have never told them what they should study, nor have we tried to guide them towards a specific profession. And what path have they been taking?

Most children stop using daytime diapers between the ages of two and four, although nighttime training can be more difficult and may not be completed until around five or six years of age. For Alejandra Pérez, supervisor of pediatrics and neonatology at Sant Pau Campus Salut Barcelona, it is key to understand that sphincter control is not a habit learned through repetition, "but rather a maturational milestone acquired when the child's body is physiologically, cognitively, and emotionally ready." Neurologically, Pérez continues, "it involves a transition from an involuntary reflex action (where the bladder empties automatically) to a voluntary and conscious act under cortical control." Forcing this process prematurely, therefore, "is ineffective and can generate frustration, anxiety, and unnecessary conflicts, as each child has their own pace of nervous system maturation."

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.

Many parents do not talk about money with their children because they are not very happy with what they do to earn it. Surely it is not what they had projected for their lives and, in this renunciation, there is a kind of shame. This often makes them not want to talk about money, seeing it as something dirty that has forced them to betray their lives.Wow, I had never looked at it that way.

I have always talked to my daughters about motherhood. I have been a mother who has not hidden her mistakes or weaknesses. I have not wanted them to see me as a heroine. It surprises me that they worry about the same things as my generation. Being able to have a professional career and being able to combine it with a desired and fully lived motherhood. Things haven't changed much.Are you worried about your future motherhood?

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?

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.

It was at Sants station, contemplating with delight a very young father with a backward baseball cap and sagging pants who was spasmodically moving his baby's stroller. A baby, needless to say, that came as a surprise, not being "planned." At first, I thought the father was traveling alone with the child, but soon a girl, also very young, appeared, sipping a soda. "I come from Accessorize", she said. And immediately, to the baby: "I've brought you a little something". She gave him a lollipop, without opening it.

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.

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.

In Memuro, a small town on the island of Hokkaido, there are Sunday nights when a cafe specializing in French toast relights its lamps when the city is already asleep. Inside, there are no customers looking for a last coffee before going home, but rather mothers in pajamas with crying babies. Some sit in silence while a volunteer takes the child in her arms for a few minutes. Others simply rest lying on mats after hours of sleeplessness. The place reopens at nine in the evening and does not close until six in the morning. It is one of the new yonakigoya, literally houses for night crying.