When my daughter Vanessa was born more than six years ago, it never ocurred to me that I would speak to her in any language other than Spanish. Although I'm fluent in both English and Spanish and I have spent the majority of my life in the United States, I still consider Spanish my first language and the one I use with my family–even though they're all bilingual too. As my daughter went from baby toddler and started speaking, I realized that using only Spanish with her raised a lot of questions for me. Of particular concern were: How would she learn English? And would she be at a disavantage if she didn't learn it early on? At some point, I even wondered if I should start speaking to her in English.
These and other concerns led a college friend of mine and I to create a blog about the ins and outs of raising bilingual and bicultural children in the United States.
Our blog is called SpanglishBaby and in February, it'll be four years since we launched it. In that time, I've learned so much about raising bilingual children not only from bonafide experts, but also from other parents (who are experts of a different kind!).
Read more in ¿Qué más?: What's so unpatriotic about teaching my kids Spanish?
I now know that there are tremendous cognitive benefits to being bilingual. Not to mention the amount of professional opportunities that open up for those of us who speak to languages. And yet, every single time I'm asked why I'm raising my children bilingual, I always say the following: Speaking Spanish to my niños is about cultural identity. It's about familia. It's a matter that's very close to my heart.
We all have different reasons for raising bilingual children, but for many Latina moms giving this gift to their kids seems to be more important than ever before–even for those who are not fluent in Spanish themselves. And nothing makes me happier! I think it's a great way for us to reconnect with our roots and to make sure our traditions don't disappear.
Now, I want to share with you the lessons I've learned in the last six years raising two bilingual and bicultural children in Denver–where we're not exactly surrounded by Spanish and all things Latino. I'd like to think I've been successful so far, but it hasn't all been a walk in the park. I hope you'll join me every Wednesday so I can pass on some tips, ideas and stories about what it's like to haveBilingual bebés on board.
