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.

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.

A few years ago, psychologist and neuroscientist Alba Cardalda (Barcelona, ​​1989) uploaded a video to Instagram to answer a simple question: how do you politely get someone to go to hell? Rosa dels Vents saw it and asked her for a book to try to answer it. How to get shit started politely (2025), which has placed among the best-selling non-fiction books in Catalan this past Sant Jordi.

Music, drawing and even relaxation are some of the allies that Neus Cester uses to approach death and mourning with very young children. A kindergarten teacher, Neus Cester (Martorell, 1995) says that even when they are very young, children can understand the death of a family member or an animal; it is enough to adapt the way of explaining it to each age to make it more understandable. "We have to normalize death as part of life," she says. It will depend on the maturity of each child, but by the age of three they can already feel how adults suffer from death, although they may not associate it with a permanent disappearance. It will be a little later, by the age of five (these are not mathematical limits but approximate), that they begin to feel "curiosity" and get fed up with asking questions. For Cester, it is not necessary to be alarmed or nervous, but it is a good time to resolve doubts about life, because the important thing is "that they feel listened to, to validate their feelings," she says. He also says that there is no fear at the moment, so we can take advantage of the interest so that they can grow without that "taboo."