bilingual kids

I was with my children in a store last month looking at Halloween costumes.  As usual, our conversation was completely in Spanish. I noticed a mother observing our interactions, and when I smiled at her, she shared her own bilingual adventures with me. Having been born and raised in Mexico, she initially only spoke Spanish to her son. Unfortunately, when he started school, he rebelled against Spanish and refused to speak it. Sadly, this mother gave up and switched toRead More ...

I have a Google Alert set up with the keywords “Spanish for Children” to monitor that trend for fodder for my posts about raising bilingual kids here and on SpanglishBaby. Yesterday’s email alert was flooded with headlines about Gwyneth Paltrow “urging” and even “forcing” her kids to speak Spanish to her. The gossip headlines ranged from the factual to the sensational. Of course, I quickly started clicking on all of these because I confess to adore Gwyneth for all theRead More ...

We all make mistakes, right? Especially along this journey of parenthood, we know that we constantly just don’t know and we try our best every single day. There really isn’t a single parenting manual that is a one-size-fits-all or that’s customized to your particular child and/or parenting journey. But we do have each other. We have other parents that are open enough to share the good and the bad, the pretty and the ugly, and do it without giving orRead More ...

The U.S. does not have an official language. English certainly plays a vital role and I would be lying if I thought it wasn’t a necessary part of an individuals’ linguistic repertoire in order to succeed in this country. That being said, children at an early age pick up on the high status English carries in their everyday interactions. My nena, for example, already pegs anyone outside her home as “English-speaking.” I have very few friends and family that, inRead More ...

We are lucky to have family in the area who can help out with babysitting when needed. Specifically, we have Spanish-speaking family, la abuela, who helps to care for Sofía. In four years, we have never used a babysitter outside of the family. We try to be a self-sufficient unit. I stopped working my job as a teacher to stay home and care for our daughter, so I try to be careful to not need someone else to watch her.Read More ...