One of the conferences I attended last year for the first time is called evo (The Evolution of Women in Social Media). This was my first trip to Park City, Utah and I was happily impressed by the whole experience. I was also one of the few Latina bloggers there and since then have been promoting this particular conference like crazy amongst my bloguera friends because it´s on my definite list of must-attend.

So, I´m back for more evo this year from July 12-14 and I want one of you to come with me! Rice Krispies is generously giving us one full-access evo conference pass to giveaway here (valued at $399). Yay!

If you´re a seasoned blogger, this is perfect for you. If you´re a newish blogger, this is perfect for you. If you´re seriously  thinking about blogging, this is perfect for you, too!

Check out all the fabulous evo ’12sessions, workshops and events your full-access pass will open up for you. Plus, you´ll find a new tribe that will stay with you for a while.

Before you check out the giveaway and enter, we invite you to share your Snap, Crackle & Pop moments on Facebook and get the chance to have your picture posted as the brand’s weekly cover photo. Super cute!

The Giveaway!

SpanglishBaby and Kellogg’s® Rice Krispies® are giving away one full-access pass to attend evo ’12. (Note: transportation, accommodations and additional expenses to attend are not covered.)

To enter, all you have to do is visit the Rice Krispies website, check out their recipes and come back here to tell us which one you think your family would love and why.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway. If you want to up your chances at winning, then this is how you can get additional entries (only after you’ve completed the step above):

**Please leave a separate comment for each so we can count them and avoid mistakes.

1. Subscribe to receive blog updates and subscriber-only content via email and leave us an extra comment letting us know you did so or that you’re already a subscriber. Make sure to leave the comment using the same email you subscribed with.

2. Follow us on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway including a link to the post http://bit.ly/LXLO62 and @SpanglishBaby, #RiceKrispies and #evoconf hashtag Copy the link to the tweet in an additional comment on the giveaway’s post.

Click to Tweet Ex: @SpanglishBaby & Kellogg’s #RiceKrispies are giving away 1 full-access pass to attend #evoconf click here for details: http://bit.ly/LXLO62

3. Like SpanglishBaby on Facebook and join a thriving community of parents.

This giveaway ends Sunday, July 1st at 11:59 p.m. EST and is open to everyone with a U.S. mailing address over 18 years of age. Check out the Giveaway Rules.

Disclosure: Kellogg’s Rice Krispies has provided us with a 2012 EVO conference pass to conduct a reader giveaway. However, our opinions on the product are entirely our own and we have not been paid to publish positive sentiments towards Kellogg’s or their products.

Last week was a major whirlwind as I traveled with my mom and my girl to Florida to attend two different conferences: Disney Social Media Moms Celebration in Orlando and Mom 2.0 Summit in Key Biscayne. I rarely ever take my family to conferences, but this seemed like a great opportunity for Camila to bond and reconnect with her abuelita, and it was just logistically the best way to go.

Why do I even attend these conferences, you may ask? Well, the truth is that one of my biggest blogging secrets is attending conferences. The investment made in them really comes back to SpanglishBaby and this huge familia in the way of opportunities, blogging lessons to continually grow and hone our skills and connecting with other like-minded bloggers.

These two conferences in particular took it to another level and inspired me to think of the ways I’m using—or wasting!—my time; how I’m taking care of myself as a caregiver and self-motivated entrepreneur; how we’re giving back to our community and advocating for social change; and how our children are learning from who we are and how we act.

It’s the last phrase above that really hit home for me and I realized a lot of these messages apply directly to parents raising bilingual kids and that extra layer of dutifulness that applies to our parenting styles.

Armed with my Window’s Live Suite of products on my Lenovo IdeaPad U300 (Giveaway Alert Here!!), I sat down at the opening keynote of the Mom 2.0 Summit and captured and organized on OneNote the best quotes from two exceptional speakers: Brené Brown—a research expert on shame and vulnerability– and Jess Weiner—an expert on girl’s body image.

Check out their quotes below and how I interpret them through our lens of bilingual parenting.

Brené Brown

Are you your child’s worse critic? When she walks into a room do you light up when you see her, or do you criticize?

Have you noticed if you spend more time praising your child for speaking in Spanish (or the minority language of choice) or criticizing her? This is an important reflection to make because if your child is feeling constantly nagged and criticized by you in a desperate urge to get him to respond, then what we’re doing is creating a spirit of rebellion in him. Language immersion should be fun, natural, playful and full of praise.

We can not give our children what we don’t have.

Please do not interpret this to mean that if you don’t speak Spanish you can’t teach your child. The way I interpret it is that if we don’t have a passion, urge, DESIRE for our children to learn, then they won’t feel it either. And, one of the keys for teaching a child a language is that they must have a perceived need for it. They must want it and understand the why of their want. For example, when my girl is speaking way too much English at home, I remind her that it’s a shame she’s not speaking Spanish because her adored prima won’t understand her. Gets her every time.

Who we are is a much more accurate predictor to how our kids will turn out.

Do you love and absorb cultures and languages? Maybe you’re not fluent in Spanish, but you could learn alongside your child and make it something special between the two of you?

Jess Weiner

Matching intentions with action is where real change comes.

It’s not enough to want and have the best intentions to raise a bilingual child, you must have a clear and concise plan of action and you must be consistent with it. There’s no way around this one. You must be active every single day in making sure your child gets the right exposure to the language. You do this by buying bilingual/Spanish books, joining or starting bilingual playgroups, finding immersion schools, etc. Your actions may also involve immersion travel, actively seeking out cultural events in your city, making sure your child has a Spanish speaking family member or caregiver she connects to, and so much more.

Change is slow and never looks like a reality show reveal.

Oh, this is so true for bilingual children and we haven’t talked about this enough! Many parents give up speaking to their kids in the minority language at home because their kids start responding to them in English. Don’t do that! It’s only a phase and it totally depends on the language input she’s had so far. But you must remain the consistent source of Spanish and they will eventually come around.

Women are the biggest keepers of our own happiness and disappointments.

Simple. Want your child to be bilingual? It’s totally up to you and the decisions you make. We wholeheartedly believe bilingualism is the biggest gift you can give your child.

I did it because the vision was bigger than my fear.

Don’t believe all the myths surrounding bilingualism which are fueled by ignorance, social injustice and more fear. Remain strong to your vision of raising a healthy, educated, well-rounded bilingual child and your payoff will be a lifetime gift for your child.

My passion is to be a storyteller for social change.

This one hit me personally. The SpanglishBaby familia shares all these stories with you every week because we believe in this movement of social change towards a bilingual nation where every child’s voice will be heard, respected and adored.

Thanks to the Windows Team for making these insights possible through their belief in what we do and sponsoring me to attend the Mom 2.0 Summit. Not only did this sponsorship allow me to listen to amazing and inspiring women and learn from them, but also to spend time with the two women that inspire me the most in life: mi mamá y mi hija.

And speaking of Windows, have you entered to win a Lenovo IdeaPad U300 courtesy of Windows? It ends this Sunday, so enter here now.

{All images courtesy of Michael Cummings of dreaminpictures.com}