Childhood

Today the III Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child enters into force, a giant step towards a more protected childhood. This new measure implies that children may report any violation of their rights directly to the UN, in the event that their country has done nothing to prevent it.

Yesterday I talked to you about child sexual abuse in relation to a case that I have known recently, that happened a while ago, but that has been made public now, realizing people that it is a case of child sexual abuse silenced by All involved. When learning about it now, and being something that has happened in a school, the discomfort between the parents of the students is quite evident.

Having a child, having children, children in general, change your life. They make you have to delve a little into yourself, in feelings that may have been hidden for a long time or that perhaps never flourished and make many people want you to be a better person, in large part, to be a good example for them.

We are used to seeing how misery, diseases, lack of resources and wars are borne in the weakest, children. We see how all this happens in distant countries, those that one day we call "the third world" and the saturation of images is such that we almost see it as something chronic, something that cannot be changed, something that is like that and that's it.

Lindsay was born with spinal muscular atrophy, a rare disease that affects 8 out of every 100,000 children, which prevents her from living a normal life due to the generalized weakness of her muscles, which makes her unable to walk, has difficulty swallowing and that leads to progressive deterioration of motor neurons.

It is very common for your child to go through a stage where he is afraid of Santa Claus and the Magi. It is a usual scene to see children crying on the knees of one of these characters as if they were on top of a wild bear. As much as we tell them that they are endearing and bring gifts to children at Christmas, they also feel scared.

Sooner or later, sometimes sooner than we would like, it is time to talk with children about Christmas. Normally, until 6, 7, 8, children maintain the fantasy that the Magi give gifts to all the children in the world. But one good day, either because another child will tell it or because their own maturity will make them reason that it is impossible for three people to leave gifts in all the houses of the world, and on camels, however magical they may be, it will be necessary to sit down and talk with them.

Prosocial humor is one that is used to approach other people, and children begin to use it when they begin to master language. Each child has their own sense of humor, depending on their age, their environment, but it is around three or four years when prosocial humor appears.

UNICEF in Latin America and the Caribbean has launched the "Speak for me" (#hablapormi) campaign to call attention to end the detention of children under three in protection institutions. And it is that in this area of ​​the world alone it is estimated that more than 240000 children and adolescents live in institutions, and of them the most vulnerable are the smallest.

Today, October 11, International Girl's Day is celebrated, a special date to remember that today's girls will be the women and mothers of tomorrow. Childhood is the time to sow the seeds of what they will be when they are adults and if they choose, mothers too. The values ​​we instill in them as parents, but also the experiences they have in these years are key to their future.

The Congress of Deputies voted unanimously yesterday a request that in 2014 the UN enact a resolution to end forced child marriage. Every three seconds a girl under 15 is forced to marry in the world. In some cases, girls up to 5 years old. They are girls sold by their parents and given to men who mistreat them, condemned to a tremendous destiny.

On the occasion of the celebration of the International Day of the Girl, yesterday we have been invited by the International Plan, organization for the promotion and protection of children's rights, to the presentation of the 7th Report on the State of the World's Girls 2013: “By Being Girl: At double risk: teenage girls and disasters. ”

As part of the #ENDViolence campaign organized by UNICEF to combat domestic violence, the German musical group Moderat has collaborated with its theme "Gita" and this video clip. This campaign is designed to inspire children and adolescents to take action against domestic violence, which affects their own lives and communities, and to involve society to put an end to this often silent scourge.

Talking about sexual abuse and childhood is a combination that makes my hair stand on end. But unfortunately it is a reality that is there and as parents we must give our children tools to protect themselves from sexual violence. 'The rule of Kiko' precisely serves that. It is a guide for parents and caregivers of children between 3 and 7 years old prepared by the Council of Europe to protect children from sexual abuse.

Many times we know news, statistics and projects that come from the Children's Observatory, but what is this entity really? What are your goals? What is it for? Who does it depend on? The Children's Observatory is an agency under the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality of Spain that was created by Agreement of the Council of Ministers back in 1999 as a Working Group in which State Administration institutions participate, from the Autonomous Communities, of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and different childhood associations.

A few months ago we told you that Disney was planning to change the image of Mérida to make it a princess, retouching it to make it more feminine, and these days I have discovered that, a few years ago (it happened in 2009) Nickelodeon decided to grow Dora the Explorer turning her into a "fashion" girl.

As easy as offering them a treat. With this simple and sweet "trick" you can attract the attention of a child, and with not always good ends. This is demonstrated by UNICEF Chile in a video titled "Sweet Trick" to warn of the dangers of sexual abuse of children. In it you can see a man dressed as cotton candy that gets the attention of the little ones and even their parents in a park.

We have often talked on the blog of small stars that grow early on television shows, and this is a similar case, although with differences. This is a five year old boy who triumphs on Instagram, the social network of photographs. It is different from the cases of the "Miss Little Perfect", Toddlers & Tiaras ("Little Princess") or "Little Miss America" ​​girls.

What I loved about Mérida was that she broke up with the stereotype of a princess, that she was rebellious, answers and with a style of her own, which made her especially beautiful. But it turns out that she has undergone a visible change of look to be converted from indomitable princess to Disney Princess. The megafactoría has added it to its clan of princesses, but in order not to disentangle too much with Snow White, Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella has previously had to go through an aesthetic retouching that would make her more "feminine".

Imagine that you are going through economic troubles at home and send your children with another family to serve as servants. It might seem like a film issue that takes us to another era, but it is real, and current. There are still child servants, boys and girls who serve families other than their own and who are often victims of multiple abuses.