You are never too small to make the difference A message for everyone and a push for pediatric surgeons in training.

Surgery, and training in surgery, is complex as it requires to master and to transmit both technical and non-technical skills. This is particularly true when the patient is a child with its family. Academies are called to ensure that the skills needed to guarantee the optimal care to the ill child, and to its parents, are conveyed to the new generations. In this paper, after shortly reviewing the history of academic pediatric surgery and the structure of pediatric surgery training in Italy, we will give a personal view on some of the most important non-technical challenges a young pediatric surgeon will face during his/her career, that make this discipline one of the hardest and the most rewarding at the same time.