The attitude towards the threat of coronavirus differs greatly depending on the age of the people. In older people it is one of uncertainty, fear and caution, because they are more aware of the danger. Consequently, they sacrifice themselves by complying with protocols and confining themselves at home when necessary.

On the other hand, some teenagers "pass" from topic. They continue to live their usual lives. They claim (although this is not their only argument) that because of their age (between 12 and 16 years old) they are not vulnerable. Some parents feel the same way, which is why they do not ask them to be careful. For this reason, I think it is very appropriate to mention a recent statement of the World Health Organization (WHO) in which it warns adolescents and young people that "they are not invincible". It adds that "they are not exempt from contracting the new coronavirus and suffering severely from the pneumonia caused by covid-19." (21-3-2020).

 If we visit some places where teenagers hang out, we will see that, in some cases, they spend many hours with their faces uncovered and without keeping the distance advised by the experts. Worse still: as I myself have witnessed more than once, some of them hug each other in the street in an exaggerated and apparently amusing way, in clear defiance of the pandemic. They seem to need spectators for their "show".

I suppose that as the contagion affects more adolescents (it is already happening in all the autonomous communities of Spain) they will not "pass" so much from protocol. Let's look at one of the most repeated news lately. "Health authorities in Catalonia are concerned about the increase in covid-19 infections detected in recent weeks in adolescents and young people, which the director general of Health Professionals, Marc Ramentol, has attributed to "their way of socializing, closer to each other". He added that since the end of May they have been detecting "an increase in cases among young people and adolescents, between 15 and 29 years of age, and that this is an element of particular concern, because the trend is on the rise".

Reckless attitudes towards the pandemic are closely related to the characteristics and habits of adolescents affected by postmodernism. It is a decadent culture that is provoking in people of all ages a "new individualism" that only abides by the law of desire, which, in turn, leads to a loss of convictions and conformism.

 In "The Empire of the Ephemeral" Lipovetsky describes today's man as an individualistic and hedonistic narcissist concerned only with enjoying the immediate moment. In adopting this lifestyle, some adolescents are driven much more by the emotional than the rational. They love risk, whether it's reckless speeding on a motorcycle, taking a selfie on the edge of an abyss, compulsively gambling money in games of chance or going maskless in the middle of a pandemic. They seek the "feat" with challenging postures, as a means to impress those who witness it, and thus self-affirm an insecure personality.

Parents of these adolescents have an important and difficult educational task. They must try to make their children see that the fight against the pandemic requires everyone's partnership .

Second, parents cannot simply "blame the cobblestone" (the environment). They are now expected to educate their children both inwardly and outwardly. Children need to learn to detect pseudo-values linked to certain advertising and certain fashions and to act on their own judgment, creating their own environment with true friends.

Living 24 hours with the children when high school is closed due to confinement is overwhelming for everyone, but even more so for teenagers, because they cannot stand to be separated from their friends for so long.

The problem is less if this confinement is seen as an opportunity to promote healthy habits. This is the time to establish reading plans by age and family games, such as Monopoly, for example. If, on the other hand, the children are idle, they get bored and ask to watch TV, use their cell phones and play video games all the time.

All this requires parents to expand their family roles: caregivers, teachers, playmates, etc. What at first was seen as a tragedy, can be an enriching experience for everyone: more family life, more creativity, more resilience, more family culture, more development values, such as solidarity and civility.