Families and kids

Raising a family is an enriching challenge for both parents and society, albeit a demanding one. The City knows this well, providing parents and children with facilities and initiatives designed to accompany them along their journey. Beginning, for example, with kindergartens for children up to three years old, continuing with canteens and extracurricular activities (such as after-school and extended hours) for schoolchildren, moving on to youth centers suitable for adolescents, and finally to initiatives to support adults. But also counseling and social institutions for those who, for one reason or another, are most in need, temporarily or otherwise. Always keeping in mind that each stage of life has its own needs, to which Lugano wants to respond with the utmost attention: from the very first steps, with the gift that the City Hall dedicates to all new parents, namely the guide Diventare mamma e papà. I primi 3 anni.

Services for working parents

In Lugano there are a number of facilities run by the City, as well as by private individuals, that make it possible to reconcile professional activities with family needs, both for households where both parents work and for single-parent families. 

As for kindergartens, public ones are run by the autonomous Lugano Istituti Sociali (LIS). Numerous private kindergartens, on the other hand, are organized by associations, religious bodies and in some cases directly by employers. For many private kindergartens, it is possible to apply for public support for tuition fees. LuganoNetWork, the service of the Socialità Division that offers free vocational or educational guidance, also provides assistance in finding referred babysitters.

UNICEF Child Friendly Cities

Lugano was awarded the UNICEF’s Child Friendly Cities Initiative in 2023, which recognizes municipalities that make children's rights a daily practice. The track involved 841 children and 93 adults. After a first evaluation phase in which Lugano scored very well - scoring 70 percent of the indices considered by UNICEF to protect children - the second phase was characterized by involving and listening to children, adolescents, young people and parents with children in early childhood. Based on the results, the City is implementing an action plan to respond to their proposals and to enhance the work of the Administration.