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12 Women scientists who changed the world

Posted on 11/02/2022 - 13:23 by Desarrollo WebAdictos

History is full of great scientist, women, brilliant minds who have been key players in the advancement of humankind: researchers, doctors, engineers, inventors… They are an inspiration, and, despite living in societies full of prejudice, they made their way and demonstrated that there are no limits.

This February 11, the date we commemorate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2022, we wanted to review 12 scientists who broke paradigms. Through their stories, we can show our daughters, nieces, neighbors, and any girl that they can achieve their dreams.

Let’s fight to reduce the gender gap in STEM areas.

Scientists who inspire us

1. Marie Curie

Poland, 1867-1934

Physics and chemistry

She discovered two radioactive elements: polonium and radium. Her research on radioactivity led her to become the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize (for Physics) jointly with her husband, Pierre Currie, and Professor Becquerel. In 1911 she won a second Nobel Prize, now in Chemistry, for her discovery of radium. During World War I, she created the first radiological centers for military use.

2. Rosalind Franklin

England, 1920-1958

Chemist, crystallographer, and scientist

Her work was fundamental to understanding the molecular structures of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), RNA (ribonucleic acid), viruses, carbon, and graphite. In May 1952, she managed, with the X-ray diffractometer, to photograph the B side of hydrated DNA: the famous Photo 51, the backbone of DNA.

Rosalind Franklin. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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3. Lise Meitner

Austria, 1878-1968

Physicist and scientist

She was the discoverer of the element protactinium and nuclear fission, an achievement that took her four years to complete. Her partner, Otto Hahn, was unfairly awarded the Nobel Prize in 1944.

4. Maria Sibylla

Germany, 1647-1717

Naturalist, entomologist, explorer, and scientific illustrator.

As a child, she collected insects to study their behavior and illustrate their different stages of life. At that time, scientists only dedicated themselves to analyzing dead specimens, but she bred, observed, and carefully recorded the transformations in life. She drew in detail the process of metamorphosis when no one else had and documented thousands of insects unknown to science at the time.

5. Alice Ball

United States, 1892-1916

Chemistry

Alice developed the only effective treatment for leprosy before the advent of antibiotics in 1940. Leprosy is an infectious disease caused by bacteria that causes skin and nerve damage. Until then, the sick were imprisoned, and their life expectancy was practically nil.

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6. Ada Lovelace

England, 1815-1852

Mathematician and writer

Ada is the first programmer in history. She is famous for her work on Charles Babbage’s mechanical computer called the Analytical Engine. She was the first to recognize that the apparatus had applications beyond pure calculation. She published what is known as the first algorithm.

7. Jocelyn Bell Burnell

England, 1967

Astrophysicist

She is credited with one of the most outstanding scientific achievements of the 20th century: she discovered the first radio signal from a pulsar (neutron star) in 1967. Although she found pulsars, in 1974, his thesis supervisor, Antony Hewish, was awarded the Nobel Prize. It was highly criticized.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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8. Barbara McClintock

United States, 1902-1992

Physician specialized in cytogenetics

In the 1930s and 1940s, Barbara McClintock showed that chromosomes were not fixed and stable chains of information but instead contained bits of DNA that jumped from one side to the other. She called them “transposable” genes. This discovery was fundamental to understanding hereditary processes. For her contribution, they gave her the Nobel Prize in 1983, many years after her studies.

Barbara McClintock. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

9. Katherine Johnson

United States, 1918-2020

Physics, rocket science, and mathematics

Her orbital mechanics calculations as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent human-crewed space flights in her country. Taraji P. Henson played the role of Johnson as the main character in the 2016 film Hidden Figures. In 2019, she received the United States Congressional Gold Medal.

Katherine Johnson. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

10. Wang Zhenyi

China, 1768-1797

Poetess, mathematician, and astronomer

She was a famous scientist in the Qing Dynasty; she had her theories about how eclipses work. She studied the Chinese calendar and used her telescope to measure the stars and explain the solar system’s rotation.

11. Rita Levi-Montalcini

Italy, 1909-2012

Neurologist and scientist

Working with snake venom, tumors, and mouse saliva, she discovered nerve growth factor (NGF), a protein that regulates nerve growth and keeps neurons healthy. Her findings have been key in understanding the control mechanisms that regulate cell growth. For this finding, she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1986, shared with the scientist Stanley Cohen.

Rita Levi-Montalcini Photo: Wikimedia Commons

12 Hedy Lamarr

Austria, 1914-2000

Inventor and actress

She was the inventor of the first version of the spread spectrum that would allow long-distance wireless communications. Her technology was used to control torpedoes and communication. To date, the principles of her work are in use in Bluetooth technology, mobile networks, and Wi-Fi.

Translated by: Ligia M. Oliver Manrique de Lara

Spanish version

Anahí: Jealousy among siblings

Posted on 06/01/2022 - 11:54 by Desarrollo WebAdictos

A topic that overwhelms many moms and dads is jealousy among siblings. Today I want to explain to you what my experience with Manu was like when Emiliano joined the family, and why you should give your little one time to go through this process along with your support.

Welcome to my article about Challenges of modern moms and families in Baby Creysi.

The famous jealousy among siblings

Jealousy is a normal feeling. As long as they are temporary and do not significantly alter the coexistence and development of your little one, you do not have to worry.

It is a fear of losing the love and attention given by parents and it is logical, no matter how much you prepare your kids, there are times when they are unavoidable.

I think lots of babies go through this. When I was pregnant, Manu saw my belly, but he did not realized one hundred percent –unless he were older– that inside me there was a human being who was going to take away the toys!

First, everything is perfect for the older brother: the belly, the baby, hugging, kissing… But when Emiliano was born, it was a shock.

Manu was very jealous. My husband and I read a lot and applied every method we found to make the process more bearable. You know, that if you bring him a gift when the brother is born, that if you involve him, as much as he can, in taking care of him…

We applied everything we already knew and were told over and over again, we did it to the letter, but the jealousy was tremendous.

The moment he tried to hug the baby, an uncontrollable cry immediately broke out, “Mom, come with me!”

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Jealousy between siblings is completely NORMAL

What can you do when your older child is jealous of the newborn sibling? I believe that the main point, I say it again, is to clearly recognize that they are completely NORMAL.

Think like your child does, put yourself in his shoes.

How is it possible that as a child, I have a mother and a father, and suddenly another child arrives and I have to share not only my room, my bed, my clothes, but also my mother and my father?

It is absolutely logical and you have to understand that feeling. As a mother, I never told him, “Don’t be jealous, he’s your brother, you must love him, stop crying!” Never did I do it!

Rather, and I think it is something that will be very useful to you as well, I accompanied him in his process.

What does that mean?

Simply, tell him clearly what is happening so that he understands that the new member of the family is not going to take any love away from him, on the contrary.

Although we are very busy with the new baby, who requires all your attention, it is essential that you spend time with your eldest son and explain that his brother comes to fill him with love and joy.

Children do understand. You have to be clear with them and tell them that the new little brother or sister is going to be their best friend forever and that, if they build such a strong bond between themselves, nothing will ever stop them.

Another thing that helped me is that Manu saw the beautiful relationship I have with my sister and that’s why I was also able to talk about the issue of brotherhood.

And speaking about my sister, we can see that it is different in each family. She is six years older than me and, in a child’s perspective, that difference is very big. In addition, my parents tell me, and she asked God to have a little sister every day.

When her little sister finally arrived, it was a dream come true, I was her doll! She did my hair, she dressed me, played with me. For my sister it was different because she wanted to have someone to play with, but we didn’t give Manu a chance, suddenly his little brother arrived.

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Don’t panic!

Indeed, jealousy among siblings is normal, so don’t panic. Sometimes we get very nervous, but they are phases and this one will pass too.

For example, nowadays Manu and Emiliano adore each other, they cannot live without each other. Even Manu wants his brother to sleep in his bed, they are inseparable.

Looking back, you realize that it was just a moment and it was worth it. My boy had something in his little heart that was bothering him, and it was good that he took it out.

I think that this issue of jealousy has happened to all mothers with their babies. My advice would be not to panic. It is just a phase, it will pass, you just have to accompany him in his process.

Validate his feelings, don’t act like nothing’s wrong or tell him not to cry. If he wants to cry it’s for a reason, his heart is asking for it, he needs you. Then you have to accompany him, you will see that little by little he will not only adapt to the new member of the family, but both will love each other.

I hope these tips help you.I am Anahí and I am looking forward to meeting you in my next column in Baby Creysi.

Find a wide variety of clothes for your little one in our online store on Amazon.

Translated by: Ligia M. Oliver Manrique de Lara

Spanish version

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Halloween and the Day of the Dead: differences and similarities

Posted on 14/10/2021 - 15:04 by Desarrollo WebAdictos

Halloween and the Day of the Dead: two syncretic holidays with great differences and similarities. From the ancient traditions of Celtic and Mesoamerican cultures, to the modern fusion between both celebrations.

Differences and similarities between Halloween and the Day of the Dead

The main difference lies in their origin. However, although they have different cultural and geographical backgrounds, they have surprisingly very similar elements.

The Celtic Samhain

Many people believe that Halloween is American, but it actually comes from the Celtic tradition, ancient peoples who inhabited what is now Ireland, England, Scotland, and France.

It began to be celebrated with the name of Samhain (it means: end of summer). For the Celts, it marked the time when the days became shorter and the nights longer. It signified the start of a New Year and the end of a bountiful harvest season.

They celebrated the farewell of Lugh, god of the Sun, and like many other cultures, they believed that the dead returned to the world of the living, so it was also a time of reflection on death and an opportunity for rebirth. According to the book Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night by Nicholas Rogers, Samhain was a time of balance and sacrifice, possibly including animal sacrifice, and communities prepared to survive the winter.

The Aztec Festival of the Dead

When the Spanish arrived in Mexico, they found that the natives celebrated rituals with which, apparently, they “mocked” death. Horrified, they tried to vanish this practice, but they did not succeed. Manuel Alberro, author of the book, The Christian Day of the Dead and the Day of the Dead in Mexico, explains that the Aztec people honored their dead in August and worshiped Mictecacihuatl, Lady of Mictlan, Queen of Chignahmictlan, the Ninth Level of the World Underground. “The Aztecs kept skulls as trophies, and displayed them during these annual rituals. Skulls symbolized death and rebirth. They were used to honor the deceased, who were believed to return to this world to visit them during this month-long festival. Unlike the Spaniards, who considered death to be the end, the Mexicans saw it as a continuation of life”, the book points out.

From Samhain to Halloween

After Rome conquered most of the Celtic lands, the pagan tradition was reformulated with a Christian narrative. In the year 601 AD, Pope Gregory tried to make this date the All Saints’ Day, dedicated to the Christian martyrs.

Thus, All Saints’ Day was strategically moved to November 1^st, making it coincide with Samhain. They called it All-hallows or All-hallow’s Eve which in Middle English means “the eve of all saints”. Eventually, over time, it became Halloween and turned to be more popular than the liturgical day. It was brought to the United States by the huge number of Irish who immigrated to that country during the nineteenth century.

All Saints’ Day in Mexico

As with Samhain, the Aztec Festival of the Dead was considered sacrilegious by European clergymen. They wanted to suppress it, but it was impossible.

Instead of eradicating it, they assimilated it, trying to impose All Saints’ Day. The native peoples incorporated elements of their own celebration. Gradually it became a unique and very complex ritual that today is known as the Day of the Dead.

Items and offerings on Halloween

The offerings of food and goods to ward off the ancestral spirits and ghosts of Samhain became offerings of food and drink to the poor on All Saints’ Day and resulted in Halloween dishes and sweets.

The pumpkin with the lantern refers to the Irish legend of Jack-o’-Lantern, where the light of the candle illuminates the path of a man condemned to wander as a spirit for all eternity. Disguises were used to confuse and drive ghosts away. The skulls and skeletons were reminders of this time that we will all go through.

Elements and offerings on the Day of the Dead

The Day of the Dead offerings also come from ancient pre-Hispanic ceremonies. For the Aztecs, the soul of the loved one survived and still had many material attributes. So they had to feed themselves: drink water and even use weapons. Copal and burning incense were placed to guide the deceased on their way and purify the space from evil beings. The skulls were a reminder that death, sooner or later, comes for us.

The union of Halloween and the Day of the Dead

In recent years, the tradition of Halloween and the Day of the Dead have been intermingled due to the proximity of Mexico and the United States. The films and the cultural exchange between the two nations have led to the adoption of elements of both celebrations.

Finally, both traditions are the product of cultural syncretism. It is important to mention that due to its complexity and richness, the Day of the Dead is registered as Cultural and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

What tradition do you celebrate the most? Day of the Dead or Halloween.

Translated by: Ligia Mabel Oliver Manrique de Lara

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Resilience for pandemials: a guide for raising children in times of Covid-19

Posted on 26/08/2021 - 12:29 by Desarrollo WebAdictos

The Alpha generation, the children born after 2010, after the centennials, are now called in many places as the pandemials. They are our children, the little ones who have had to explain the world to themselves with Covid-19, the ones who had to adapt to isolation, closed parks, and online classes.

Undoubtedly, children are the most affected in this environment and are the ones to receive the least attention; that is why the existence of books such as Resiliencia para pandemials (Resilience for pandemials), by Alejandra Crail, an investigation with data, specific cases, and multidisciplinary analysis that is at the same time a guide for parents is of great help because we still don’t know the impact that the pandemic will have on our children.

Resilience for pandemials

We talked with Alejandra Crail about her book and the need to foster in our children the ability to transcend any circumstance. That is resilience.

Baby Creysi (BC): After more than a year of the pandemic, what have we learned from it?

Alejandra Crail (AC): The learning is not over yet, but one of the most important things is that thanks to the pandemic we were able to establish our priorities.

We are discovering that things that we used to consider important, actually they are not. The lockdown allowed us to reconnect with people. In the case of caregivers who have girls and boys around, connect with their little ones. The daily dynamics prevented a close contact, sometimes there was left just the blood bond. The confinement came to give us perspective of how important it is to be together, to live together, and to give quality time.

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The adult-centered view

BC: Children are the most forgotten within the pandemic, why is it so hard for us to turn around and notice them?

AC: We have been raised with an adult-centered vision. Turn to see yourself when you were a child, adults were always right and there were very few occasions when they listened to us.

Things have not changed and we can also notice it in government decisions, the government manages the public administration towards children. As members of an entire system we share the adult-centered vision, we belie

ve that adults are the beholders of reason and we tend to think that those tiny voices that are developing do not contribute much. The truth is that children are citizens today though it is hard for us to recognize it.

The pandemic represented an opportunity in that sense. After sharing a room 24 x 7, we force ourselves to turn to see their needs. We were able to listen to what worries our children, find out what makes them happy, what they dislike, what they fear.

Alejandra Crail is an investigative journalist, writer and photographer, specialist in human rights, children and gender. Photo: Alejandra Crail

Child abuse: the open secret that nobody wants to see

BC: During the pandemic, child abuse intensified. Are children especially vulnerable in Mexico?

AC: Abuse is a global phenomenon that stems from the adult-centric view that children are our property. However, in Mexico, due to our characteristics as a society, of course we are more prone to child abuse than some other more developed countries because here we have a lot of machismo and misogyny.

The patriarchal vision is very strong in the family, and the pandemic strengthened a problem that we have been dragging for a long time. A couple of years ago I published an investigation on child abuse; in it, we talked about the last point in the chain of violence experienced by girls and boys in Mexico.

The data, very conservative because there is not enough information, told us that every two days a child under the age of 15 is murdered by a family member, in his home, directly from abuse.

During the pandemic the figures increased because we spend much more time at home. In addition, the loss of employment, the economic problems and all the effects that the pandemic brought along increased the risk that adults would be violent with younger children because they are the last in the chain of vulnerability.

This is an opportunity to make visible something that has always been there. Today it is harsher, but it was an open secret that nobody wanted to talk about or notice.

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A resilience guide for pandemials

BC: Your book is a guide for caregivers. What are the 5 keys for our children to develop resilience?

AC: First I would tell you that self-care is the foundation. If we as women, or for fathers too, it applies to all caregivers, but if we do not take care of our bodies, our minds, our health, it becomes like a barrier that does not let us be guides for our children.

The second is to recognize the voice that our girls and boys have. Listen to them and generate links from the dialogue. Validate their contributions, do not deceive them, and share with them what is happening, including our own fears to develop real confidence.

The third thing, after the imbalance and the transfer of school education to homes, try to create a routine.

Routines allow children to know their limits and responsibilities. These are based on their development within society. Fourth, I want to remind caregivers that the only job children have is to play.

Even in the midst of a pandemic, of confinement, it is important that they play. If the parents played with them, it would be better, but the game is part of their development, it is how they explain the world.

Finally, the issue of mourning is fundamental. We must respect the processes involved in mourning and accept them as adults. It’s important because it allows us to get back on track after a loss, not just the death of a loved one, but any loss.”

The ravages of the pandemic on our children

BC: What will be the impact of the pandemic on our children? Looking into the future, what will children growing up in a world with Covid-19 be like?

AC: It is complicated because we are not very clear about what is happening to us now, but definitely in 10 and 15 years we will be seeing what we are planting. We call pandemials the generations that are in the process of formation because they are absorbing all the information in the world as it is, and obviously this is going to have an impact on their lives, on their morals, on their ethics, on how they relate to other people.

One of the main characteristics is going to be this hyper-connectivity that we are experiencing. The fact of using technology all the time. Girls and boys are learning that this is the way the world is, when in reality we, pre-pandemic, know that it was not like this before.

The ways in which we relate to each other and their mental health are going to change a lot.

We are going to have girls and boys who are going to grow up with issues of anxiety and depression.

That is why it is very important to take care of them now because those little seeds that are planted in these matters can develop big problems. Now it is so early that it is not noticeable, but they will suffer in adulthood. It is important to give them tools starting today.

Resiliencia para pandemials (Resilience for Pandemials) is available in bookstores

Resiliencia para pandemials

Author: Alejandra Crail Editorial Grijalbo / Penguin Random House Review: Suddenly, covid-19 caused millions of pandemials be face to face with grief, illness, parental unemployment, distance learning, family abuse, isolation and uncertainty.

The pandemic put them, all of a sudden, in a situation that no one had prepared them for… and no mom, dad, teacher or guardian was ready either. This book seeks to solve that problem.

Summoned by the journalist Alejandra Crail, the leading experts on childhood and adolescence unfold a great deck of emotional and therapeutic options so children can overcome this crisis and, in the end, turn it into growth and well-being. You can also download it digitally on: I like reading

Resiliencia para pandemials (Resilience for Pandemials) Upbringing and accompaniment in times of Covid-19, by Alejandra Crail. Photo: Penguin Random House

Translated by: Liga M. Oliver Manrique de Lara

Spanish version

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Why you should NOT use time-out to correct children

Posted on 24/08/2021 - 13:30 by Desarrollo WebAdictos

A few years ago moms called it, the corner. Now that name evolved to time-out. It is supposed to be a more flexible variant to correct children’s behavior. The idea is to have a five-minute pause for the child to “reflect”. However, many experts disagree with this procedure. Why you shouldn’t use time-out on your kids.

What is time-out?

Time-out is defined, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as a behavior modification technique in children. It consists of removing your child from where the misbehavior happened and getting no attention at all for one minute for every year of the child’s age, without exceeding ten minutes.

It must be applied right after the misbehavior and there are four variants:

Isolation time-out: Sending the child to a place alone
Exclusionary time-out: The child remains in place but is denied access to family activities. You can cover your eyes, for example.
Non-exclusionary time-out: The child can stay in place, without accessing the social link, while witnessing how others interact with each other.
Self-imposed time-out: Very useful for parents. They undergo a time-out in order to avoid confrontations.

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Why you should NOT use time out with children

Although many moms and dads are getting back to the time-out technique, experts say it’s not recommended.

Alejandra Velasco, parenting expert, author of books such as ¡Ayuda, tengo hijos! (Help, I have children!) and El lenguaje del cariño entre padres e hijos (The language of affection between parents and children), gives an example, “Your daughter is watching the Princesses show on television and your son comes and takes the remote control to change the channel.

Obviously, they start fighting for the remote control. Then, what do you do? You come to the place and say, ‘Children, stop. Time out’. You send the boy to a separate space and the girl to another. You turn off the TV and both of them face the consequence”.

According to the expert, the problem in this specific case is that time-out was applied to both of them, without investigating.

“Perhaps the boy who started the fight with his sister did need the consequence because it was the girl’s TV time, but the mother applied the measure to both kids”. “The problem with time-out”, says Velasco, “is that it cuts off communication. I imagine the times when educators seated the children in the corner with a set of donkey ears. It is very ridiculous when they say, he is three years old, three minutes, one minute per year of age.

Do you think the child will reflect at that time?” By not resolving the conflict and only separating them, instead of it being a time of reflection, which is not yet fully understood by the children, it will only bring anger.

“Children are only left with anger and resentment. There are times that parents send them punished to their bedroom and then at night they want them to sleep in the same place where they were punished”.

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What alternatives are there to correct children?

The key word, indicates the specialist, is to apply conflict resolution tools.

“With the time-out strategy, both parent children get frustrated, they get upset. Isn’t it better to ask what happened first? Time-out is an authoritarian approach, the mother exercises her authority and imposes the punishment. Did you listen to your children? Did you see what was happening? Do you think your five-year-old will reflect if you isolate him for 5 minutes?”

“You have to teach children resolution skills. Ask both children their arguments. ‘Let’s see what happened sweetie, why did you get angry with your brother?’ ‘It’s just that he didn’t let me watch the Princesses show’. ‘Let’s see, my boy, why did you change the channel?’ ‘Because I also want to watch my program’. ‘So let’s come to an agreement. Monday and Wednesday, you can watch the Princesses and Tuesday and Thursday, you can watch your program. And there is a chance that if you tell me calmly that you want to watch your show, I’ll let you watch it in my room, but you don’t have to be abusive with your sister’. The important thing is that you don’t send them to the corner without a resolution”, she explains.

It is a humiliating method

Alejandra Velasco indicates that the fact that the conflict is not fully resolved is not the only negative point of time-out, it has other consequences that could harm our children. I am against time-out because, in addition to not solving anything, it embarrasses, humiliates, hurts, takes away love and sends the child away to another place. How do the children feel?

Isolated and abandoned. Remember that conduct and love do not go hand in hand.

“Those ladies who reject a hug as a way of punishing because the child misbehaved are making a mistake. Let’s see, he is hugging you, he is telling you ‘I know that I did something wrong, but I love you’. And the mother says, ‘Go over there’. Along with rejection comes insecurity, anxiety, confusion, and low self-esteem. If you’re treating your child like this, you’re stepping on him”.

Time-out at school is also not recommended

For Velasco, the schools that apply time-out with their students are wrong, too. “A teacher told me, ‘It’s good for me’, but I don’t agree with that because, if you send a student to the corner, you humiliate him and he feels ashamed. Even more if you are in a classroom. Imagine telling him in front of all the classmates. ‘Go to the corner!’ And what do the other twenty children do? Well, they shout, ‘Booohhh!’ And some to make fun of him”.

But that’s not all, applying the time-out just because you saw it on a TV show or because someone recommended it, is meaningless and has no impact at all. “If a mother has never handled time-out all and suddenly wants to apply it by telling her child, ‘Sit over there, time-out’. The child will simply say, ‘I’m not leaving, why?’ And there you have a mother trying to force a kid to the corner and the child ends crying. And she concludes, ‘One minute, if you stand up again, it will be five more minutes’. I ask those moms, ‘Don’t you have any disciplinary tools?’ Sorry, but it doesn’t work like that”, the expert concludes.

Translated by: Ligia M. Oliver Manrique de Lara

Spanish version

Bubble groups, a model to return to classes and minimize risks

Posted on 18/08/2021 - 13:14 by Desarrollo WebAdictos

Julieta is eight years old and is very excited about going back to school. She is about to enter the fourth year of elementary school and, after more than a year of attending virtual classes, it seems that this school year she will be able to take classes on-site. In her school, as in some other institutions, especially the private ones, they will apply a strategy inspired by European models. They are called bubble groups. What are they, what do they consist of?

What are bubble groups?

Bubbles are a model of school integration that seeks to reduce the number of infections by Covid-19, grouping students in reduced ratios, and without contact with students from other groups.

The term began to be heard for the first time in Denmark, the first country to reopen educational centers, and New Zealand, the one that has had the greatest success in the fight against the pandemic.

Although the advice of governments to stay at home and avoid large-scale social interactions remained in these countries, the population was allowed to expand their circle of contacts through “social bubbles”.

People had to continue…

Within the bubble of their home, with their nuclear family, but they could expand it to their extended family, as long as they all lived in the same town or city and formed exclusive groups.

People who were part of one bubble could not be part of another.

The model was efficient in increasing social contact and at the same time minimizing the risk of transmission; then it was replicated by other European countries to speed up the opening of schools.

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An option to minimize risk in schools

Pilar M. Samperio, Technical Director of the Educational Center Instituto Reforma explains, “What happens with the bubbles? They are capsules that keep the inside protected. And what happens when a bubble wants to join another? By nature it pops, they cannot coexist together. That is the principle of bubble groups”.

“This model has been applied in Spain with good results after the reopening of schools. It helps keeping the interaction networks of children perfectly identified and controlled, in this way, in case of contagion, the disease can be limited. The interesting thing is that the little ones that make up a bubble take care of each other, in addition to positively helping their social relationships”.

Pilar M. Samperio

Groups of maximum 15 students

The idea of having bubbles is to have smaller groups, with a maximum of 15 students per classroom.

The groups that are larger are “split”, and the social distance among desks is maintained.

“In the case of Julieta, for example, she will be in a bubble with only five classmates. She will not have interaction with groups from other grades, only the Spanish, English and computer teacher will be able to enter the classroom, only one teacher in each class”.

“Music and physical education will be given in the open areas. The bubble will go out for recess at a different time than others and we will monitor the children in each of their activities. Teachers, although they are already vaccinated, will be tested for Covid-19 regularly”, adds the educator.

The goal is that children feel relieved to return to class and re-interact with some of their peers, but in a controlled environment. Photo: Shutterstock

Per Block, co-author of a study at the University of Oxford on new social distancing strategies, thinks this model has some advantages, since the stricter and longer the “quarantine” is, the greater the psychological and social cost will be.

“Reducing high-impact contact, rather than eliminating it in general, allows you to mitigate the social, behavioral and economic impact while maintaining a low risk of contagion. The reduction of strategic contact is more pleasant, allows greater adherence and helps release anxiety, especially in children, who feel trapped at home”, explains Block.

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Socialization within the group

The hygiene protocols of the students and the cleanliness in the schools in this model are impeccable, but the members that make up the bubble are allowed to mix with each other because, in the end, they are children.

It is important that we remember that these are schools, not prisons. They sent us the SEP Operational Guide that includes very rigorous protocols: children cannot leave the classroom and many other prohibitions.

Children must interact with each other.

We have many little ones who no longer want to leave their homes because of fear.

“By joining a group, other children will give the confidence that we as adults could not give. When they see their classmates taking care of themselves and others, that fear will decrease. Humans are social beings, mimicking and recognizing behaviors”, adds the school principal.

The success of the model depends on people complying with the rules and, as well as bubbles are formed in schools, families form social bubbles.

On the other hand, in public schools, where student enrollment is high, it will be difficult to reduce the number of students, but it is possible to opt for hybrid models of on-site bubble groups, alternated with distance classes.

Undoubtedly, these moments will leave us with many learnings as a society.

“The pandemic is a lesson for life. In my community there are children who have had to stay home alone because their parents have to go out to work and they have learned self-care. Children can teach us co-responsibility and empathy because they are the first to heed health rules and protocols. At this point, what matters is that they are well, that they feel safe”, concludes Samperio.

Translated by: Ligia M. Oliver Manrique de Lara

Spanish version

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Posted on 23/02/2021 - 19:18 by Desarrollo WebAdictos

The call came on Monday, December 7, 2020. Fernando Pagnone and Beatriz Rivas Leal thought it was part of the daily monitoring of the adoption process that they had started in June 2018. But it wasn’t, this time they had news: on Saturday they would receive their son. He was a boy who had been born on July 3^rd.

“There is an episode in the sitcom Friends: Monica and Chandler receive a call informing them that they were going to be adoptive parents, there is no comparison. I didn’t feel fear… I can’t believe it”, says Rivas Leal, a 42-year-old Venezuelan naturalized Mexican.

“Humanity’s most painful year would be my happiest year”.

In Mexico, the Covid-19 pandemic stopped many things, but the adoptions of Mexican minors were not affected. Those, on the contrary, increased. Data from the Federal Attorney for the Protection of Children and Adolescents (PFPNNA) indicate that the procedures concluded by the DIF National System increased 329%: they went from seven in 2019 to 23 in 2020.

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These figures do not take into account those registered by state prosecutors’ offices, which carry out their own adoption processes. Their latest available data reveals that from May 2019 to the same month of 2020 they completed 865 adoptions.

“We have not stopped any process and had to adapt our process to this new situation that we are living“, says Dulce María Mejía, Managing Director of Protection and Restitution of Rights of the PFPNNA, dependent on the National System for the Integral Development of the Family, in an interview with La-Lista.

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Procedures in pandemic

The national adoption process, which implies that the minor live in Mexico, consists of at least 13 points.

Some of them consist on going to the prosecutor’s office to request the registration form for the induction course; deliver the file to the adoption area; participate in assessments, interviews and home visits, and receive notification from the Technical Adoption Committee.

Most had to be done in person at the dependency facilities.

For the international adoption process, that means that the minor will live in another country, the applicants must comply with 24 steps, including face-to-face meetings to evaluate their compatibility with the assigned minor.

“It is a battle, it is following up, it is a sui generis process. American families, for example, are often not encouraged by all these implications and because of the difficulties”, details Arturo Rodríguez, a lawyer in the United States specialized in immigration and international adoptions. “Because there comes a time in the process in which applicants have to live certain weeks, maybe months, in Mexico”.

To facilitate procedures during the health emergency, the Attorney General’s Office incorporated electronic means, such as videoconferencing platforms and sending documents via email.

“Before the pandemic, our adoption applicants had to come to the offices, now we do a videoconference and we explain everything they need to know about the adoption procedure”, Mejía describes.

“The documents can also be forwarded to us by email in order to review them and avoid crowds or prevent them from coming more than the time they are going to integrate their file”.

They seem like logical steps to incorporate technology, but until March 2020 they were not considered in the adoption application process. Today its implementation is seen as a great achievement within the attorney general’s office.

The official highlights that even the adoption committee sessions, where it is decided whether or not to issue a certificate of suitability to adopt, have been held by videoconference. And the requirements section of the website of the National DIF System has facilitated the work.

“It establishes the requirements that our legislation and guidelines ask for terms of adoptions, and integrate their file quickly and efficiently”.

Adoptions in Mexico during the pandemic

Despite this forced lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the DIF National System still lacks a national registry of adoptions that let us know, almost in real time and with transparency, the pace of adoptions, the waiting time between applications and the completed procedures, the institutions that manage the requests and the states that carry out procedures.

Mejía anticipates that the launch of this system will take place at the end of February.

“Each one of the state protection agencies will have a password and a unique registry that will feed the entire macro system to give an appropriate response and let know how many children and adolescents are eligible for adoption in the country, how many adoption processes have been concluded, and all that data”.

The other pending issue is the simplification of procedures that allows –as indicated in article 26 of the General Law of the Rights of Children and Adolescents– that the adoption process is expeditious, agile, simple, and guided by a higher interest:

The one of more than 960 minors who, until last May, were eligible for adoption.

Translated by: Ligia M. Oliver Manrique de Lara

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Spanish version on La-Lista.com