• Español

    Conversar para Aprender: Haz estas 5 cosas para que tu bebé sea super inteligente

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    Este post fue patrocinado por Read On Arizona. Todo el contenido y pensamientos son sinceros y propios.

    Como mi hija mayor nació cuando yo tenía 27 años, tuve bastante tiempo para convivir con los bebés de mis amigas antes de ser mamá. No se si les ha pasado que a veces ven cómo una mamá hace algo y saben inmediatamente que eso lo van a hacer ustedes también con sus hijos. ¡A mi me pasa super seguido! Siempre ando adoptando las buenas ideas de las mamás que conozco.

    Me acuerdo tanto de la vez que una de mis amigas me enseñó algo super importante, aunque para ella no era nada del otro mundo.

    Les cuento que un día fui a visitar a mi amiga y a su bebé de 4 meses. Estábamos platicando a gusto, y de repente el bebé se empezó a poner necio. Mi amiga interrumpió su conversación conmigo, volteó con el bebé, y ¡se puso a platicarle! Así su conversación:

    Mi amiga “¿Ah si, papi?”
    Bebé: Aaaa, ooooo
    Amiga: “¿Y luego?”
    Bebé: Toz falsa, riza
    Amiga: “¿En serio? ¡No me digas!

    Y bueno, así sucesivamente. Debo confesar que ¡nunca me había puesto a pensar cómo le debería de hablar a un bebé!

    Por eso me da muchísimo gusto compartirles hoy el método Conversar para Aprender. Se trata de una iniciativa de la organización Read on Arizona. Con esta campaña, Read On Arizona nos está ayudando a preparar a los niños más chiquititos para tener éxito en la escuela y en la vida.

    Y resulta que al tener este tipo de conversaciones con nuestros bebés— hablándoles de manera cariñosa y receptiva, usando palabras nuevas, etc.— ¡les enseñamos cómo pueden comunicarse con nosotros! Y hay que mencionar también que para los bebés, el contacto visual, las expresiones faciales, las sonrisas y hasta el llanto son formas de comunicación muy importantes también.

    Usar el método Conversar para Aprender es super fácil, ¡y no se necesita ningún entrenamiento! Sólo hay que seguir estos 5 pasos:

    1. Describa: Platícale al bebé lo que estás haciendo mientras lo haces. Cuéntale que le vas a poner su pantalón azul hoy, o que vas a recoger la cuchara que acaba de aventar al piso.
    2. Pregunte: ¿Quién acaba de entrar al cuarto? ¿En dónde quedó el vaso de agua? Y también hay que dejar espacio para que nuestros chiquitos contesten la pregunta (¡aunque sea sólo con soniditos y no palabras!)
    3. Responda: A nadie le gusta hablar solo, entonces hay que responder si el bebé nos está “platicando” (así como lo hizo mi amiga).
    4. Lea: ¡Esta es la estrategia que más me gusta! Leer con nuestros chiquitos es la forma más fácil de enseñarles palabras nuevas. Aparte sirve que aprovechamos para apapacharlos un poquito. 🙂
    5. Repita: Cuando usamos una palabra nueva, hay que asegurarnos de repetirla para que el bebé se la pueda aprender. También podemos repetir las palabras que ellos dicen para mostrar que si estamos poniendo atención cuando nos hablan.

    A mi me encanta que esta iniciativa nos está enseñando cómo preparar a nuestros bebés ¡desde bien chiquititos! Y también me siento super bien sabiendo que el fomentar el desarrollo verbal de mi hija es tan fácil como poner atención cuando me dice “nines” y luego contestarle “Ah, ¿quieres ponerte los calcetines?”.

    ¿Ustedes ya hacen estas cosas con sus chiquitos? ¿O alguna de ellas les es nueva? ¡Cuéntenme en los comentarios!

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  • Bilingual Bookworm

    An Easy Way to Raise a Brilliant Baby

    This post is sponsored by Read On Arizona.

    A few months after my partner Josh and I got married, we went to have dinner with some friends and their tiny son. I was pretty young (22! I know! I can’t believe I got married that young either!) and, never having been much of a babysitter, babies and little kids were kind of a mystery to me.

    Our friends’ baby was probably 4 months old, and all these years later I’ve never forgotten how his mom interacted with him.

    We were all in the living room, deep in conversation, when baby boy started whining a little bit. She immediately turned to look at him and started saying things like:

    Friend: “¿Ah si, papi?”
    Baby: Babble, babble
    Friend: “¿Y luego?”
    Baby: Coo, laugh
    Friend: “¿En serio? And then what did you do?”

    You get the picture. It made such an impression on me, the way she responded to her baby and had this big long conversation with him.

    Even though the baby obviously couldn’t talk, it was such a powerful lesson to me that communicating is about so much more than words.

    By having quality, back-and-forth conversations with our babies and toddlers just like my friend did, we can help our chiquit@s learn that eye contact, facial expressions, crying, smiles and touch are all great ways to communicate with us even if they can’t talk yet.

    That’s why I’m so happy to partner with Read On Arizona to share the Smart Talk campaign, which is helping parents learn how to have these types of conversations. This is a great foundation for kids’ language development, and sets them up for success in school and in life.

    Smart Talk is really easy, and you don’t need any special tools or training. Anyone can follow these five steps to have a meaningful chat that will help you raise a brilliant baby!

    1. Describe: Talk about what you’re doing as you do it. Tell your baby she’s going to wear a yellow shirt today as you put it over her head, or inform your son that you’re going to pick up that pea he just threw on the floor.
    2. Ask questions: Who just walked through the door? (The preferred answer at our house would always be Papá.) Where did baby leave her water? And then encourage your child to answer (coos and babbles totally acceptable—eventually they’ll turn into words!).
    3. Respond: A nadie le gusta hablar solo, so make sure you’re responding to your baby (even if that just means imitating his babble).
    4. Read: I mean, of course this is on the list, right? It’s the best way to introduce new vocabulary and spend a moment bonding with your child.
    5. Repeat: Teach your kid words by practicing over and over together. Echo what she says and let her know you’re paying attention when she speaks.

    For me, it was so great to see all of these steps laid out. As a new mom with my first baby I really had to force myself to talk to her because I’m not a super chatty person naturally. But I always remembered my friend and her sweet little convo with her baby, so I did my best.

    I love that this campaign is helping out parents who may not have witnessed such a great example of Smart Talk in action. And best of all, I think it’s so great to have this simple reminder of how easy (and how beneficial) it is to have meaningful conversations with our little ones!

    Tell me, do you do these things with your baby and/or toddler already? Were some of them new to you?

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  • Bilingual Bookworm, Book List, Reading

    Spanish Children’s Books for Back to School

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    Ahh, September, the season of newly sharpened pencils and lunch boxes that don’t yet smell faintly of old sandwich. We’re pretty firmly back in the school routine (having started school in early August, what up AZ?). But I feel like September is the REAL back to school month and we’re still figuring out new routines and new relationships.

    Because my oldest is only in preschool a couple of mornings a week for a few hours, it kind of feels like we’re just playing dress-up with the idea of having school-age kids. And I’m ok with that! I don’t mind one little bit waiting a couple more years to have to get everyone fed, dressed and out of the house by 7:30 am (no por favoooor).

    But regardless of whether your chiquitín/a is starting preschool or kindergarten & beyond, any of these books would be perfect to read as you nail the back to school thing.

    Soy demasiado pequeña para ir al colegio by Lauren Child

    It’s time for Tolola to go to school, but she’s not so sure school’s for her. Luckily, her brother Juan is around to show her the ropes. There’s really one major hurdle by the first day: how will Tolola go to school without Soren Lorensen, her imaginary friend? What if no one sits by her at lunch?! Fun fact, I had no idea that Juan and Tolola first existed in English as Charlie and Lola (and I’m still perplexed that someone felt the need to change “Lola” to “Tolola” for the Spanish version).

    Mi maestra es un monstruo (No es cierto) by Peter Brown

    Roberto has the worst teacher: she’s so scary and mean, in fact, he’s pretty sure she’s a monster. Thankfully he only has to see her at school, until one weekend she shows up in Roberto’s favorite park! Love this one for teaching that most people are pretty wonderful if you just take the time to get to know them a little better. (And also for teaching the shocking news that teachers exist OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL, gasp!)

    Ruby, mono ve, mono hace by Peggy Rathmann

    When my high school best friend found out I was starting a business selling Spanish children’s books, she mailed me this one because she loves it so much. Ruby is the new girl in school, and she has a lot of similarities to Angela. What a coincidence! At first, Angela is flattered when Ruby shows up at school wearing all the same clothes she wears… but it gets old fast. Their teacher, la señorita Lara, takes matters into her own hands as she tries to teach Ruby a very important lesson (summarized by that quote that somebody made famous): “Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.”

    El primer día de escuela de Chu by Neil Gaiman

    It’s Chu’s first day of school, and (like most kids), he’s a little nervous about how it’s going to go. His main worry, of course, is whether he will make friends. At school, the teacher asks everyone to introduce themselves and talk about what they really like to do. And it turns out Chu’s answer to the question is rather unusual!

    Un beso en mi mano by Audrey Penn

    This sweet story is perfect for little students that feel nervous about the first day of school. Chester el Mapache doesn’t want to go to school—he’d rather stay home, see his friends, and play with his toys! But then his Mami shows him a special secret that will let him feel her love as he ventures out into the world. This adorable little trick might be just perfect for real-life kids that feel similarly apprehensive about leaving home all day long.

    Y ahora cuenten— any favorite back to school books I’m missing? I’d love to add more to the list!

    Amazon links are affiliate links, meaning that if you click a link and make a purchase I may get a (very) small commission. It won’t change how much you pay for an item.

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  • Bilingual Kids, Parenting, Reading

    A Spanish Reading Challenge

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    Perla and I first met on a hot Saturday morning in July. It was the first week of the Arizona Latino Bloggers workshop, and the second I heard her intro I liked her so much. Let me tell you about how we decided to do a Spanish reading challenge together!

    Perla blogs at ChicanaMama.com, where she writes about how being a Chicana influences her motherhood and shares beautiful pictures of her family (she’s also a photographer). As the weeks went on and we saw each other Saturday after Saturday, I learned that she has two little kids about the same ages as mine (and is pregnant again!). Perla is completely bilingual, and spoke to her oldest daughter in Spanish at first, but over time their family language shifted to English. One day while we were talking, she mentioned that she’d love to be more intentional about teaching her kids Spanish and I was like “!!!”

    So we decided to try something.

    Here’s what we came up with for our Spanish reading challenge:

    1. I would send Perla three Sol Book Boxes (one per week) to open with her kids.
    2. For those three weeks, she would commit to reading in Spanish with her kids for at least 15 minutes each day (choosing from the books I sent as well as from books they owned and library books).

    I was (and am) sooo excited about this reading project, because I absolutely know that reading in Spanish has played a HUGE role in my children’s language journey. Here’s how I thought it could help Perla’s family: first, it gets kids and parents into the habit of speaking in Spanish to each other. If you’ve just finished reading a book in Spanish, odds are very good that you’ll continue to speak in Spanish for at least a while afterward.

    And secondly, reading in Spanish builds vocabulary, which is crucial to helping kids feel confident in their ability to fully express themselves. And that’s true for parents, too! I can point to books that taught my daughter words that she now uses all the time, but I can also remember exactly which of her picture books taught ME new vocab (looking at you, “meadow”). Even if Spanish is your first language, like it is for Perla and me, if you’ve been in the U.S. for a while surrounded by English speakers it’s easy to forget things you once knew.

    We’re on week two of the three-week challenge, and it was so fun to hear from Perla last week about how things were going (if you follow the Sol Book Box Instagram, you may have caught my Instagram Live with her last Saturday). Once we finish I’ll do a second post with what we learned, but for now I want to encourage you to do your own Spanish reading challenge with your kids! We chose three weeks because 1) that’s a length of time that feels doable and 2. the three-month Sol Book Box subscription is our most popular one.

    15 minutes is about how long it takes us to read a couple of picture books, and it goes by so fast but the benefits linger. ¡Avísenme si se animan a intentarlo con sus familias!

    (All photos by Perla of her daughter Yari (isn’t she the cutest!))

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  • Parenting

    Slow Parenting for Back to School Season

    Slow Parenting for back to school seasonSchool starts this week for our Chiquita #1! It’s preschool, and she only goes twice a week for a few hours, but it still has a surprisingly big impact on our schedule to have to rush out of the house even two mornings a week. Now that we’re getting ready to say goodbye to summer, I realized that I’ve accidentally been doing slow parenting for the past month.

    Have you heard of the Slow Parenting movement? I first heard the term a few years ago (I think before I even had any children), but it’s stuck with me ever since. It’s pretty much exactly what it sounds like: slowing down, savoring the moment, doing few activities, letting your kids be still (and potentially be bored).

    For the past month, mostly by accident, the girls and I have spent a lot of slow days together. Thanks to friends traveling, the horrific Phoenix heat, and a couple of summer colds, our schedule has been mostly free of play dates or work commitments. Between our normal errands and some fun summer adventures, we’d always get out of the house at least once a day, but in general, thanks to our relatively empty schedule, there were fewer instances of stressed-out rushing (me) and overstimulation (kids).

    I loved the advice in this (old) Boston Globe article about slow parenting:

    “Slowing down and connecting with each other is about being mindful of what you’re doing. These days when everyone is so busy, we need to be intentional about making space for family time. Like all of our other activities, we need to mark it on the calendar.” – Carrie Contey, cofounder of Slow Family Living

    “I encourage parents to take some time to just watch their children, whether they are playing, doing homework, or eating a snack. Take a moment to drink them in. Remember and remind yourself how remarkable your children are. That pause alone, even if momentary, can drive a shift in the pace.” – John Duffy, clinical psychologist and author of “The Available Parent”

    That second one really hit home for me, because the greatest gift of our slow parenting summer was the chance to really watch my girls together. The other day I peeked into the living room while my three year old was teaching my one year old how to play ring-around-the-rosie (they included a favorite doll to make the ring bigger). Later that week I stuck them both in the bathtub with paletas, and just watched them. I smiled at how perfectly round the baby’s stomach is, laughed at their tan lines, and admired their long eyelashes. I watched as one took tiny bites of her paleta and the other took long licks, and my heart almost broke thinking of how big they’ll be one day. It was the sweetest moment, but I could have so easily missed it!

    Even without kids in “real” school, the necessary tasks of getting two tiny humans dressed and fed so we can do the things we need to do (all scheduled around various naps that need to be taken at the right time) creates a special brand of daily chaos. And for you who have bigger kids, the start of school definitely signals a busier season for everyone. So as we get ready for back to school, I’m committed to keeping some of the principles of slow parenting in mind even when the long days of summer are behind us.

    What about you? Do you purposely schedule in slower-paced time with your little ones?

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  • Travel

    Butterflies, Borders and Belonging

    In Phoenix, Arizona there’s a place called Butterfly Wonderland. Its main attraction is a high-ceilinged greenhouse filled with plants, where more than 3,000 butterflies flutter around and, to the delight of small children and adults alike, will sometimes alight on a human shoulder or head or arm.

    Before you get to go into the greenhouse, you watch a short film about the monarch butterfly’s yearlong migration from the central Mexico all the way to Canada. Not long ago, my two little daughters and I sat in the theatre. As I looked at their faces, aglow in the light of the screen, I thought to myself that we are butterflies, too. Every so often, we make the trip back to the small town in Northern Mexico where I was raised. It’s a long drive, but (thanks to the American passports we all have) we cross the border nearly as easily as the monarchs do. I know we’re lucky, lucky Mexicans. I never forget this.

    This summer, I’ve thought about it often as I read account after account of kids separated from their parents and held in uncertainty in detention centers all across the U.S. I think about the price they’ve paid, just for crossing an imaginary line in the desert dirt: children forced to appear alone in court, babies returned to their parents sick and covered in rashes, toddlers unable to recognize their mothers after so much time spent apart.

    ***

    The place where I’m from is a town filled with peach orchards and chili fields, run by cattle ranchers and schoolteachers from the local schools. As soon as we get close, my three-year-old starts repeating “Ya llegamos! Ya llegamos!” in increasingly higher decibels.

    We unload from the car— in a frenzy of missing shoes, too many bags, and half-eaten snacks— and run inside my parents’ house to love our people. And you know what’s amazing? Kids know their people. Even if we haven’t seen each other for months and months, even if they’re a little shy at first, they can instinctively recognize family, instantly feel comfortable, secure, loved. The distance is the hard part of families split by borders, but the reunion? That’s the great part.

    But this summer our arrival was bittersweet for me, because it happened at the same time as family separation at the border reached crisis level. As I watched my kids hug my mom, I thought about all of the mothers that had sent their kids off “for a bath,” only to find out a few minutes later that they had been taken away. When my extended family enveloped us in love, I thought about all of the families who had sought asylum in the U.S. (fleeing rape, violence and murder in their home countries) but had been met with hatred instead.

    ***

    My little Mexican hometown is not strictly a border town—it’s technically about 3 hours away from the border—but it’s close enough that it kind of feels like one. Lots of people who live there have American citizenship, and often people will migrate from the U.S. to live there for a season or forever. Sometimes this migration is legal. Sometimes it isn’t.

    When I lived there, the high school sports teams would sometimes play against American schools. We would load up the school buses and drive across the desert to play some small-town school in Arizona or New Mexico. Mostly this was not a big deal; sometimes friends didn’t have passports or realized their visa had expired, and then it was. Talented players trying to pretend that it didn’t matter that they had to miss the big game, a brave wave, some of us gone and some left behind.

    Now that I live on the other side of the border, I keep having variations of this same experience. My brother’s family couldn’t make it to my daughter’s first birthday party because my nephew didn’t yet have the necessary paperwork to cross the border. My cousin very narrowly made it to my other cousin’s wedding after she wasn’t allowed to cross the border in time to make her flight.

    In the grand scheme of things, these are minor injustices. I understand this more than ever, after a summer of thinking about the border and the families that cross it. I know that so many migrants hug their families goodbye and never get to hug them again.

    ***

    In the end, Trump finally signed an executive order to end his family separation policy, but (weeks later) thousands of children are still in government custody after being separated from their parents. All summer long I’ve thought about how to write about this, how to best help the people experiencing it, how to talk about it to people who feel very differently than I do about the border.

    It turns out the best I can do is repeat the words of Brené Brown:

    “If your response is, ‘The parents should not have brought their children here illegally,’ know this: I pray to God that you never have to flee violence or poverty or persecution with your children. And, if the day comes that you must and your babies are forcibly removed from your arms, I will fight for you too.”

    Human beings—especially the tiny ones—are infinitely more precious than butterflies. I hope to someday live in a world where their stories of migration across the U.S.-Mexico border are just as beautiful.

    (Illustration by Juan Palomino from the book “María la monarca“)

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  • Travel

    5 Tips for Traveling with Small Children

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    I grew up in a town three and a half hours from the nearest airport, so long road trips were pretty standard for my family growing up. Now that I have my own kids, we alternate flying across the country to visit my in-laws and driving to Mexico to visit my family.

    We recently made the long drive back from Mexico where we had been visiting for a few weeks. While we were there, I was visiting with a friend who mentioned that she was about to take her kids (ages 2 and 9 months) on a 13-hour road trip, and she was feeling nervous about it.

    Since summer is the season of travel, I thought I would share some things that have worked well for our family! All of these have served us well on both our long flights and our long drives with babies and little kids.

    1. All the snacks. If I’m being totally honest, snacks kind of drive me crazy because there’s nothing worse for me than taking the time to prepare a meal for my kids and then having them not eat it because they’ve been snacking all day. BUT. On trips? Snacks forever! We pack a huge bag and strategically roll out food throughout the trip. Bonus points for small things I can give out one by one, like raisins or cheerios (these are also great for hiding in one fist and having your kid guess which one it’s in—anything to draw out the eating process and keep them entertained!).
    2. Libros (of course). I will admit right now that I hoard some of the Sol Book Box books so I can break them out just before a trip when I know we’re going to be heading out of town! I also love the idea of stopping by the library for a stack of new-to-us books right before we leave (I think that’s happened like once—we normally just bring books from home—but it’s a great idea in theory).
    3. Save electronics for last. This is probably my best tip and the one I shared with my friend—save the screens for last! It seems like you could just break out the iPad and kids would zone out and stay quiet, but in my experience the opposite is true—screens more often wind them up, or they lose interest and get cranky. So we do stories, snacks, singing and well, pretty much everything else first, and try to save electronics for the last part of our trip (when everybody’s tired and/or screaming).
    4. No-mess coloring. If you haven’t yet been introduced to Water Wow! books, they are the best thing ever! My kids will happily entertain themselves with them for much longer than I would have thought possible, and if they happen to spill nobody freaks out because it’s only water. We also recently tried this invisible ink marker coloring book, and liked it a lot too (not as much as Water Wow! if I’m being honest because the marker has a strong-ish smell, but it did entertain my three-year-old for a good 45 minutes on our trip).
    5. RUN during stops. When our oldest was a baby, I remember going on vacation with some friends who, at every stop, would have their kids run races with each other for 5 minutes. I adopted that one immediately, and now have my preschooler hop like a bunny, gallop like a horse, or chase me around the car 10 times at all of our stops, too.

    I’d love to hear your best travel tips! Tell me and I’ll add to the list!

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  • Parenting, Reading

    4 Books for Father’s Day

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    Here is how it works in my family: my dad reads a book, then he lends it to my grandpa, who eventually passes it on to my uncle or my brothers. Sometimes it makes its way through the women in our family too, if it doesn’t have lots of swearing. 🙂

    The men in my family are big readers, but it wasn’t until I started thinking about writing this post that I realized… I’m not exactly sure what they read? (Apparently non-fiction and thrillers.)

    So in honor of Father’s Day, I decided to think about some man-friendly books I’ve read and tell you about them in case you 1) are a man or 2) know a man. I think these would be great Father’s Day gifts for husbands or dads or abuelos!

    And, as I’ve mentioned before, if kids don’t see Dad reading, they probably won’t be that excited about it either. You know, in case you need some motivation.

    Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande

    I read this book and then kept recommending it to people (“What’s it about?” “Well… death? But it’s really good! Not as depressing as that sounds!”). Listen, it has more than 6,000 five star reviews on Amazon so, you know, I’m not the only one that thought it was great. Atul Gawande is a doctor as well as an incredibly talented writer. This book focuses on how medicine can not only provide quality of life, but also a satisfying end of life when that time comes (due to either old age or illness). Soooo interesting!

    Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance

    I read this one shortly after #45 was elected president because it got a TON of publicity during his presidential run. I’m obviously not his fan, but I was interested in this book because I’d heard it gives some insight into the lives of the white working class Americans who voted him into office. And it was, in fact, very interesting and eye-opening (sometimes violent and troubling, too). It reads like a novel and is an honest, yet compassionate, look at a segment of the American population I didn’t know much about. Fair warning that there is lots of swearing in this one.

    Things a Little Bird Told Me: Creative Secrets from the Co-Founder of Twitter by Biz Stone

    I’m not really a Twitter user, but I thought this book was so fascinating. I think most people are familiar with Twitter to some extent, but it’s so cool to see how it got off the ground and what the founders’ original intentions for the platform were. Also, Biz Stone is a delightfully funny writer, and the way he writes about creativity was so inspiring! In fact just writing this summary makes me want to read this book again.

    The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

    I’m straying from the non-fiction titles with this book because I think everyone should read it, and also because there was no way I was going to make this list and not put any books by Latin American authors on it (Brazil represent!). “The Alchemist” tells the magical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who embarks on a journey to find treasure (but not the kind he thinks he’ll find, as it turns out). This is a super quick read, but it definitely leaves you thinking and inspired.

    Also! For busy men who just don’t have time to sit down with a book, getting these on audiobook is a great option (because nothing is worse than picking someone the perfect book and seeing it a year later, sitting sad and unread with dust on the cover).

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  • Bilingual Kids, Reading

    The Easiest Summer Alphabet Activity for Preschoolers

    “Maaaaagic letter rabbit,” intones Miss Nicole (aka “la señora de story time”), “What is the letter of the week?!”

    Our closest library is small and, compared to others around, has few toys & games. Still, we prefer it to any of the bigger, newer ones mainly because of Miss Nicole’s story time (also because it’s one block from our house).

    As she leads the crowded room in an enthusiastic round of clue guessing to figure out the letter of the week, I think (not for the first time) that I have been slacking a little on mom-led educational activities for my girls.

    When my oldest daughter was born, I had a full Pinterest board of things to do to improve motor skills, teach letter recognition, etc. etc. Being a rather precocious child (as well as an only child), she talked early, learned her letters young, and in general required very little from me to become pre-literate.

    Then I had my second kid!

    And even though hija mayor (now 3) goes to preschool twice a week, the other day she momentarily confused a letter she used to know perfectly. Cue the mom-guilt!

    So I figured that the start of summer vacation was an ideal time to dust off my Pinterest board and figure out a plan for summer now that all of the learning is on me again for a couple of months.

    From past experience I know that I can only set myself up for success if this kind of activity is simple (for me) and relatively quick. This Letra de la Semana sequence is both of those things, and perfect for the preschool crowd to work on letters this summer.

    LA LETRA DE LA SEMANA

    How it works:

    You focus on one letter for a whole week. My daughter’s attention span for this kind of thing is about 15 minutes right now, which IMO is an ideal amount of time as it’s not overwhelming for either of us and easy enough to squeeze in after breakfast before we leave the house, or in the evening after work.

    Lunes – Introduce the letter and brainstorm examples. We normally follow pretty much the same script: “Mi nombre es ___ y soy la letra de la semana. El sonido que hago es ___ y en inglés soy ___.” Then we think of words that start with that letter and write them down.

    Martes – Recolectamos. We look for things around the house or outside that start with the letter.

    Miércoles – Buscamos. We search for uppercase and lowercase examples of the letter in any print materials we have a la mano (junk mail, magazines, books, pretty much anything will work here).

    Jueves – Escribimos. Mainly this involves me drawing a big letter and having her fill it in with watercolors or crayons (and one time with beans!). This summer I might try to have her do more writing/tracing.

    Friday – Get crafty. I’m not naturally a very crafty person but for the sake of my kids I’m trying to be a little more creative. There are hundreds of ideas on Pinterest, and a quick Google search pulled up this, this and this (just to start!).

    My favorite part about this is that since we focus on the same letter all week, if we miss a day here and there it’s not a big deal. And having a set activity for each day makes it easy since I don’t have to figure out what to do— I just have to remember what day of the week it is. 🙂

    And! If you happen to need a dedicated activity to do only in Spanish with your kids, this would fit the bill rather nicely. Let me know if you decide to give it a try!

    (Top photo of Vince and Soph free alphabet printable.)

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  • Bilingual Kids, Parenting, Reading

    Bilingual Bookworm: How to raise kids who speak, read, and love Spanish as a busy parent

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    A couple of months ago, after having lots of conversations (online and in person) about the challenges & rewards of raising bilingual kids, I had a lightbulb moment. Wouldn’t it be nice, I thought, if there was a practical, short guide? With helpful tips and tricks to address the most common concerns I hear from parents raising bilingual niños?

    So I decided to make one! And then spent the next two months deeeep in this research project that, in a totally nerdy way, was super fun for me. I asked for the problems/concerns/challenges parents were facing (if you wrote me back, gracias!). Then I turned to experts in bilingual parenting and literacy and read ALL THE RESEARCH. And, thanks to 18 years of school and a Master’s thesis, I’m pretty great at research (if I do say so myself).

    Finally I put it all together in an email course called “BILINGUAL BOOKWORM.” This course has all the most helpful things I researched. It’s designed to help busy parents raise kids who speak, read and love Spanish, and it’s finally ready to launch!

    Some things you should know:
    1. It’s free (always and forever my very favorite price).
    2. All of the tools, tips and strategies in this e-course are simple, but significant. This means that I didn’t include anything that’s going to complicate your life or add to an already full to-do list.
    3. It’s a three day course and once you sign up, you’ll get one lesson a day delivered right to your inbox with strategies you can put into practice right away. 
    4. It’s packed with hands-on tips for raising bilingual kids who love speaking and reading in Spanish.

    You can sign up here if you’d like. I hope it makes your life easier as the parent of bilingual kids and helps you and your family create many happy reading memories together!

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