Sleeping well is essential, as sleep allows the body and mind to recover and function correctly. In the case of children, sleep takes on even greater importance because it is key to their knowledge and cognitive development. As explained at the Sant Joan de Déu Hospital's Health School, babies and children need deep and restorative sleep to process what they have learned during the day, consolidate memory, and develop their motor and emotional skills. In adolescence, the hormonal changes typical of this stage can make it difficult for them to maintain adequate sleep schedules, which can have consequences on their mood and academic performance.

WhatsApp has announced that it will implement parental controls for minors under 14 years of age who use this application. According to Meta, the owner of WhatsApp, with this step families will be able to configure the application so that their children can only call and send messages through the application. Among the functions they will not be able to access are deleting messages once sent, accessing statuses or artificial intelligence.

When a child, or rather, a teenager, sets excessively high standards for themselves, fears making mistakes, and suffers from not meeting the expectations they believe others have, we're talking about excessive demands or, as professionals know it, dysfunctional perfectionism. This shouldn't be confused with its healthy counterpart. Adaptive self-demand leads to better performance, both academically and athletically, as well as in other areas of a young person's life, because it fosters a desire for constant improvement, develops responsibility and commitment, and ultimately leads to better organization and intrinsic motivation. However, if it's dysfunctional, it affects and conditions the young person's daily life, requiring intervention. Although it occurs in both genders, dysfunctional excessive demands are more common in girls than in boys, due to their tendency to anticipate, strive for perfection, and seek control.

Efforts have been underway for some time to eradicate sexist language, including reducing sexism in areas such as advertising and toys. Is the same effort being made in the children's costume sector? In other words, has the range of options broadened beyond princess or ballerina costumes for girls and superhero, police officer, or athlete costumes for boys? For psychologist Elena Crespi, the answer is a resounding "no." She points out that although a new self-regulation code came into effect three years ago, aiming to prevent catalogs and advertisements from linking a type of toy to a specific gender, "wherever we're going, we still see that in firefighter and police officer figures and toys, boys continue to be the protagonists of images typically associated with girls." The only change, he adds, is that if there is, for example, a police costume in which we can see a girl as a model, the dress automatically changes to sexualize that child with tighter trousers or a skirt, a shirt that opens more or a shorter t-shirt."

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.

Raising a child is often considered one of the most important tasks in social development. Raising young children and living with teenagers can be a source of stress. Situations such as a chaotic home or a demanding child, along with deeper factors like being a single parent or having limited financial resources, can lead families to experience demands that exceed their capacity. Several studies, as explained by Gonzalo Pin Arboledas, an expert in sleep disorders medicine at the San Juan de Dios School of Health, have shown that positive family behaviors (such as warmth and responsiveness) contribute to the development of positive behavior in children, while negative behaviors (such as hyperreactivity) are detrimental. Stressed and sleep-deprived parents, therefore, tend to use harsher and less positive parenting styles. How does lack of sleep affect metabolism?

Maternal sleep problems (caused by their children's poor sleep quality) are linked to higher levels of dysfunctional parenting. This is especially significant for mothers who have more difficulty falling asleep. In fact, adults living with a child or teenager who don't sleep well may be more likely to suffer various metabolic disorders in the medium or long term.

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"That's because you're growing." The people who told him that as a child when he complained of joint pain were probably right: growing up often hurts. "Growing pains exist and, in fact, are one of the most frequent causes of musculoskeletal pain in childhood," points out Dr. Anna Pujol Manresa, a rheumatologist in the pediatric department of the Germans Trias Hospital in Badalona and a professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) in the Can Ruti Campus teaching unit. "However, it's not directly related to bone growth," she clarifies.

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Antimicrobial drugs, including antibiotics, marked a turning point in modern medicine. However, this great advance is threatened because, every year, more microorganisms are found. learn To defend themselves against treatments, bacteria become stronger and more resistant, rendering medications ineffective. Eneritz Velasco, attending physician in the infectious diseases department at Sant Joan de Déu Hospital and coordinator of the hospital's antimicrobial stewardship program, points out that among the uses that most compromise their effectiveness is "using them when they are not necessary," since antibiotics are effective against viral infections such as the flu, the common cold, or COVID-19. Velasco emphasizes that "they are also not analgesics," so they do not relieve pain "nor do they treat coughs or reduce fever."

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The dictionary of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC) defines the term resilience as "an individual's ability to overcome an unfavorable or risky situation." This is a highly valued attitude in the adult world, especially in the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous context in which we currently live; therefore, it is an important skill to cultivate as soon as possible.

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It's lunchtime. On the table is a bowl of pumpkin soup and some slices of hake. With a menu like this, it's easy to guess—though there are always exceptions—what the child's reaction will be: huffs, whines, and a plea. They'd prefer French fries and a hamburger. What do we do? Educational psychologist Anna Serra Dolcet explains that, faced with such a situation—where the challenge of setting limits arises—parents experience a mix of emotions, ranging from frustration and worry about what will happen if their child doesn't eat, to guilt. A quick response is usually, "You're eating this because I said so," or "I'll cook something else because the important thing is that you end up eating." Between authoritarianism and permissiveness, however, there is, according to Serra, a space for dialogue (depending on the child's age), openness, and diverse suggestions, from which everyone will benefit.

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We get home from school, and just as we're halfway through our evening routine, we realize we've forgotten to buy bread. We'll have to get dressed again—put on shoes, jackets… and all go back downstairs. What if I leave him alone for a moment?

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Almost everyone has fallen into the trap of rewarding their children for tasks that are their responsibility, like going to the movies if they get along well during a long adult meal, or buying them packs of that sticker collection they love so they'll do their homework quietly and with focus. But is it advisable to reward them in these situations?

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Preadolescence is a stage that, depending on each individual's developmental level, typically extends from 10 to 13 years of age. Therefore, at age 12, they are immersed in a period of change, especially on a psychological and sexual level. While we cannot yet consider young people of this age to be adolescents, we can still refer to them as such. older children That wouldn't be the most appropriate term because, as Núria Casanovas, a child and adolescent psychologist and vice president of the Social Intervention Psychology Section of the Official College of Psychologists of Catalonia, explains, they no longer have a child's brain: "they are in the midst of a transition."

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Myopia, astigmatism, and hyperopia are very common eye problems among the population and are usually diagnosed in childhood. In fact, one in five school-aged children requires vision correction. According to the ophthalmology department at San Juan de Dios Hospital, a child should have their first eye exam at age 3 and this exam should be repeated every year or, at most, every two years. "Early detection and treatment of vision problems can prevent the progression of vision loss and prevent disease," the ophthalmologists at San Juan de Dios explain.

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In many cases, children reach adolescence with a sport under their belt. They started practicing it as children, in elementary school, and if it's a team sport, their commitment to competitions and their peers guarantee continuity during this period of change. But what about those who haven't played a team sport or regularly? If they haven't shown interest as children, it's hard for them to get hooked on a team sport at thirteen or fourteen. But this is neither impossible nor should it limit the highly recommended and necessary practice of sports. Miguel Ángel Méndez Pérez, a professor of health sciences at the UOC, is very clear about what families should keep in mind to achieve this goal.

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When entering adolescence, everyone wants to feel accepted and included in the group and, above all, not be labeled as strange or different. Achieving this often involves imitating others, who are usually those with greater leadership skills and from whom behaviors that are "well-regarded and highly valued" are discarded. Therefore, they follow the behavior of the most popular. This is a common behavior in this "transitional" stage of life from childhood to adulthood. As explained by Laura Cerdán, a collaborating professor at thestudies in psychology and educational sciences from the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), is a stage of change and evolution in the emotional, cognitive, and social realms, with "strong social pressure" that encourages imitation of peers. Although each adolescent experiences these changes in their own way and differently, there is consensus that these are years in which friendships gain significant importance, and young people therefore seek to identify with their peers.

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Friendships play a fundamental role in the growth of children and adolescents. They learn to relate to others, build their identity, and feel part of a group. But not all relationships are always positive. Some can limit them or cause discomfort. As child and adolescent psychologist Margot Fusté points out, in these cases it's important to know how to identify what's happening and, above all, how to support them.

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When a child loses in a competitive activity, emotions such as frustration, anger, sadness, or helplessness are often triggered. These emotional responses, explains Júlia Maria Bonet, a child and adolescent clinical psychologist, have a neurobiological basis, since the brain is still developing the structures responsible for emotional regulation, such as the prefrontal cortex. Furthermore, Bonet continues, their self-esteem is still highly dependent on external success, and they may perceive defeat "as a threat to their personal worth." Bonet emphasizes that, according to Bandura's self-efficacy theory, which stipulates that self-confidence influences behavior and success, "if children have not developed sufficient confidence in their abilities, they may experience defeat as a deeply personal failure."

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Getting water in your ears isn't serious, this is the first thing Fran Fernández Segura, a family doctor at the CAP la Paz in Barcelona, ​​makes clear, but it can be annoying. "The external ear is like a tube, and when water gets in it at the beach or in the pool, it will come out naturally," he explains. If it takes a while or bothers us, we can use a towel to dry the ear or move our head. However, under no circumstances should the ear be manipulated by inserting objects or cotton swabs "because it can become inflamed and we can introduce bacteria."

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The warmer weather is here, and we're spending more time outdoors, making the most of the sun's rays. It's only natural that we wear sunglasses to protect ourselves from the brightest hours of daylight, but is it necessary for children to wear them too? Dr. Joan Prat Bartomeu, pediatric ophthalmologist at Sant Joan de Déu Hospital, assures us that they can wear them without any problem.

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