When my daughter was 3, she would point at the screen of my laptop every time I had it open and demand to talk to “-ita!” (her abuelita). Used to Skyping with our relatives in Mexico, she thought “–ita” was always there, waiting to talk to her. Lucky for us, technology makes the world seem smaller and helps families create loving bonds with their long distance relatives, even when we can’t be together in person.

When I was growing up, we moved around the country with my family. Despite living far away from my relatives, I felt close to my grandparents, aunts and uncles, and my cousins were some of my best friends. How did we cultivate our relationships across the country? Though we didn’t have the internet, we visited to celebrate holidays, got presents and cards on birthdays, and talked on the phone once in a while. Today there are endless ways to form lifetime attachments between abuelitos y nietos, tios y sobrinos, and all the primos.

Video chats: most everyone has heard of Skype and Facetime is becoming more popular as well. While nothing can replace hugs and kisses, these video calls allow families to tell stories, play games, read books, and in our house, show off. My daughters play new violin songs, my sons show their new kung-fu moves, they all dance, sing, show awards, new toys or artwork — we’ve even taken it outside to show how they learned to ride a bike or swim freestyle. Though little kids aren’t great at conversations on the phone yet, seeing their relatives on the screen (making funny faces, or giving a tour of their house) draws them into the conversation and helps them interact more easily.

Blogs, facebook, email, on-line photos: tech-savvy parents can find endless ways to share pictures online. From writing a blog to share funny stories and cute pictures to email updates to sharing online photo albums: relatives around the world can watch your children grow up and get instant updates about our daily lives. One of our friends sends monthly slideshows using Smilebox to give updates of her boys to her relatives. If you are worried about security, use passwords on blogs, watch your settings on facebook and set your YouTube videos to unlisted. On Facebook, it’s possible to set up a secret group for your family that is non-existent to other users, so that family members can converse privately.

Snail mail and packages: What kids don’t love to get mail? Our aunt sends postcards and treats from New York, our cousin pen-pal sends little packages of stickers and crafts, and grandma and grandpa send holiday bundles with candy and presents. Not only do we receive, we also send drawings, photos (especially to our bisabuelita who doesn’t use a computer!), art projects, and letters to all of our relatives. The kids practice their reading and writing in Spanish, learn about the post office, and anticipate the return letters. We write about our daily routines, and ask questions to our pen-pals.

Visits and vacations: once a year, we plan a vacation and invite any of our relatives to come with us. Though relatively short periods of physical contact, these intense and fun trips create lasting memories and strong bonds.  When planning a trip, we try to incorporate memorable activities that everyone can enjoy, taking into account the schedules of the different ages. The added benefit of traveling together is that we have extra eyes and hands to help us with our kids! We try to let each child spend time by themselves with their grandparents (even just running to the store) so they can bond even more.

The benefits of cultivating long-distance relationships are everlasting. Unconditional love and support from our abuelitos is present in person, in letters, or through our computer screens — and shows our children that they are part of a loving family that will always be there for them whether in person or in spirit.

How do you stay in touch with your relatives across the country or abroad? What has worked best with your family?

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Photo by Mooganic

Hola and Happy Easter to all! We’ll spend the afternoon decorating eggs and helping our daughter during her first-ever egg hunt, but more than anything, we’ll be spending a lot of time en familia and we hope you will too!

But first, our weekly round up of links you might be interested in checking out:

1. Raising a Child in Two Worlds – My child doesn’t look quite like me (Caucasian) or her father (Colombian); she’s something new for both families. When I was pregnant, the thought of having an “exotic” looking child based on our combined genetics – Jose’s inky black hair, dark eyes, and round face coupled with my waspy, delicate looks and tiny build – hadn’t really occurred to me. Then I gave birth to our daughter, Nina, and race and culture became, for the first time, an “issue.” I just read this and I’m still trying to digest it, so I don’t really have much to say about this except: you NEED to read it. And, expect a post about this article at a later date…

2. Learning Two Languages – Raising multilingual children offers opportunities as well as unique challenges. Parents may ask a range of questions: Should they speak to their child in their native language? How will that affect their child’s ability to learn English? If they speak to their child in English, will he lose his native language? And what happens when parents speak to their child in two languages? Although here at SpanglishBaby we’ve covered this topic at length, it never hurts to read more of the same. Plus, PBS always does it right.

3. New Wave of Authentic Latino Flavors Hits the US – American Latinos and non-Latinos alike are driving a ‘new wave’ of authentic Latin American foods and flavors set to enter the mainstream in the US, according to a new report.

4. Fluent in Spanglish – Have you ever made the mistake of saying a few phrases in Spanish, only to have the other person speak for the next 45 minutes in the mother tongue, while you have little clue as to what they are saying because it is too fast, and you don’t know how to stop them? I laughed, even though I can’t identify with the author, and you probably will too!

5. Latino USA with María Hinojosa – Latino USA is committed to informing Americans about the people who are increasingly becoming their neighbors, friends, and co-workers. From the outset, Latino USA has understood the complexity of the Latino community and has been driven to break down the notion that there is a monolithic Latino point-of-view. The program has not shied away from reporting on problems and divisions within Latino communities. Hosted by María Hinojosa, whom I truly respect not only as a Latina, but as a fellow journalist, Latino USA has been around for about 15 years. This is their website, which for the last year has been working toward increasing the dialogue about what the transformation of the USA actually means for all of us. If you’ve never heard her, it’s time to check her out!

6. Last, but not least: We love GIVEAWAYS and we love supporting a great cause. Click here for a chance to win one Jumbo pack of Pampers diapers or pants + four “One Pack = One Vaccine” Pampers/Unicef  campaign onesies. Deadline is tonight at midnight EST.

Photo by lapideo

¡Hola a todos! Here’s this week’s roundup of links you might find interesting. There weren’t a whole lot this first seven days of March, although NBC’s Nightly News week-long series on Hispanics in the U.S., definitely count as more than just one! Enjoy…

1. We the People — Hispanic families balance tradition, languages. This is just one of several reports NBC aired this past week on the largest and fastest-growing minority in the country: Hispanics. The network reported on education, health care, the economy and heritage issues among others. If you missed them, it’s definitely worth checking them out!

2. Dealing with the Latino Education Crisis — Although Latinos are the largest and fastest-growing minority group in the nation, they drop out of high school at alarming rates and have made virtually no progress in the level of college completion in the last 30 years. Bleak news regarding the state of education for Hispanics. There must be something we can do!

3. The LBBC and the Peruvian Hearts’ Library Project — The story of Ana Dodson, an amazing young woman who established a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing the lives of children living in poverty in Peru through nutrition, education and health care. You need to read Ana Dodson’s story and what Peruvian Hearts is all about and what our friends at Latin Baby Book Club are doing to help out the organization.

4. ‘Bill of Rights’ announced for California’s English Language Learner — Today, 25 percent or 1.6 million California students are English learners and that number is growing every day. Unfortunately, the number of English learners dropping out of school is growing every day too. CABE (California Association of Bilingual Education) officials say promoting a “Bill of Rights” will draw much-needed attention to the magnitude of the challenges facing today’s English learners. One way that might solve some of the problems mentioned in the second recommended link. An interesting read, even though it only applies to California. Maybe other states could follow suit.

5. Should slang be taught to learners of foreign languages? — Most foreign language courses focus on teaching you grammatically correct and fairly formal language. Some do cover some aspects of more informal and colloquial language, however few venture into the wonderful world of slang and very informal language. I am all for learning slang, and that doesn’t necessarily mean “bad words” or insultos. I truly believe that part of the reason why it was so hard for me to fit in when I arrived in this country as a teenager–even though I had attended a bilingual school (English & Spanish) back in Peru–was the fact that I was never taught any slang whatsoever.

What do you think?

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Photo by Guillermo

Hola! Here’s this week´s round up of stuff we found online related to raising bilingual kids which might be of interest to you:

1. Teach your young child a foreign language — Parents.tv video highlighting early bilingualism. Watch and learn about foreign language classes for little ones, bilingual caretakers, and language learning DVDs. I absolutely loved watching this video. Not only are the kids adorable, but the info just reinforces a lot of the stuff we already know in a fun way. Thanks to our fellow blogger Diane over at Foreign Language Fun for sharing with all of us.

2. Bilingual Hispanics live with ease in both worlds — Mixing languages does not complicate the lives of United States Hispanics who are living with ease in both worlds – one that is in English and the other that is in Spanish, concludes the report. I read this and was really surprised with some of the results.

3. A dialect of confidence: Middle school offers advanced placement curriculum to its Spanish speakers — San Diego’s Lemon Grove Middle School Principal Ambler Moss said he started the class to give native Spanish speakers a chance to succeed in an academically demanding course where their fluency is an advantage. Their first language is often seen as a barrier to learning in a predominantly English school environment, Moss said. He wants to change that. Really great idea. Sometimes it’s just better to try to turn things around and see their positive side.

4. School debuts language web site — Online Spanish class for children filled void in learning opportunities. An article that describes how the website, Foreign Language Friends, was born and how it works.

5. The Minority Language at Home Bilingual Method Teaching Children to Speak Two Languages — Teaching Children to Speak Two Languages. Nothing new here, but just another source of information if you’re using the mL@H method.

6. Win a trip for two to Miami and have breakfast with a Latina star– Bisquick and Que Rica Vida magazine are inviting five lucky winners to celebrate el Día de las Madres in Miami with Despierta America star, Karla Martinez. Sounds like a great chance to get a much deserved break and meet some fun people. Go for it!

7. Finding qualified bilingual teachers. — This comes from Bilingual Talk, a blog for teachers, students, parents and researchers living in a multilingual world. This blog is written by Liza Sánchez,  founder and Board Chair of Escuela Bilingüe Internacional (EBI) in Oakland, California–the first independent school in California to offer a Spanish-English dual language program, extending from pre-K through 8th grade. Liza recently accepted our invitation to be added to our list of experts and we couldn’t be happier to have an educator and the founder of a bilingual school! In fact, she’ll be answering one of your questions next week, so please remember to send those here.

Enjoy!

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Photo by theogeo

As we are new to the blogging world, both Ana and I spend what feels like every “available” (i.e. when we’re not being stay-at-home-moms) waking hour scouring the internet in search for anything we can get our hands on regarding raising bilingual kids. There’s not much, but whatever we find out there, we promise to share with you!

Here we go:

A bilingual future: More parents are sending their kids to language classes — In a world where economic ties reach beyond oceans and continents, learning a foreign language is fast becoming the skill of choice for parents who want to give their children a leg up. Interesting read. Scary comments. Thanks for the link, Ines!

Only English Here Says Kansas School — A Kansas court judge rules in favor of a Catholic school’s decision to ban all non-English speech within its walls. A group of Hispanic parents responds: Parents appeal Wichita school’s ‘English only’ policy I’m extremely curious about the outcome. I will definitely follow. Again, frightening comments.

Two tounges are better than one, claim experts — People who learn to speak two languages from birth are the best at multi-tasking, a new study has revealed. One more reason to raise bilingual kids!

Nothing is Wrong With ‘the Way Kids These Days Talk’ — Languages are like rivers: they keep changing and there is nothing anyone can do to stop them. I really enjoyed reading this. It made me think a lot about this whole “Spanglish” thing and what it really means. Excellent!

If you get a chance to read these, we’d love to read your thoughts. Some of these could start real interesting “conversations.”

Enjoy!

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