Juan of Words

Raising a Bilingual Kid: One Generation at a Time - Progress #latino #lifestyle #parenting #parents www.juanofwords.com

The real work takes place at hone. #latism #dads #parenting #parents #homework #school (Taken with Instagram)

Raising a Bilingual Kid: Getting Your Kids to Buy Into español

He tries.  He really does.  We all do.  It’s become an entire family effort to maintain Edgar’s bilingual skills.  Even more so to ensure he is fluent in Spanish.  Inevitably,    as much as we try to avoid it, we always end up talking to him in English instead of Spanish.  It’s not that we don’t feel comfortable speaking in only español, pero cómo que the words come out easier in English.

When he was younger, I think we were better at it.  He was a lot more tolerant of our “speak Spanish!” commands anyway.  Nowadays, nos sigue la corriente… but he has also made it perfectly clear English is the language he feels more comfortable in.

“Why do we have to speak in Spanish if we all speak English too?!”, he once asked us.  To which all we could reply was ¡en español! as we tried our best not to crack up at his pretty smart aleck complaint. Read More

Raising a Bilingual Kid: Time Out vs Chancletazo

As children we did not know there was such a thing as time out.  Instead, we knew that when mamá or papá gave us that look we had better stop doing whatever it was we were doing, or else.  The or else could have been anything from un manotazo, to a pellizco or even a cintarazo or chancletazo.  Usually it was either of the latter.  It wasn’t that my parents were mean.  Nor were they aching to give us a good manotazo all of the time.  The truth is we were bad kids! Read More

Bedtime Stories for Bilingual Kids: Book Review & Giveaway

I know the author!  It’s always fun to be able to say that.  Even more thrilling when it is someone who has always been nothing but compassionate and supportive to all writers they come across.  Rosalinda Vargas, my friend and author of this new bilingual book, Sometimes I Don’t Want to Sleep, is definitely a woman who fits the bill!  Rosalinda has always encouraged my own writing, so of course, it is a real pleasure to now be able to introduce this, her latest book, to all of you… Read More

For Spring Break Invest in Mexican Loteria

Now that Spring Break is upon us and los huercos are coming home for seven days straight, here in Texas anyway, you know they are going to utter those two little words that always drive me up the wall: “I’m bored!”  Normally I’d respond, “so find something to do… or here, why don’t you clean your room, take out the trash,” etc., but since I’m trying to be nicer for lent, let me instead make a very friendly recommendation for all parents.  Or for anyone who’ll be around kids for Spring Break for that matter.

Do yourself a favor, don’t underestimate the power of a good game of Mexican Loteria!  Inevitably los huercos are going to get tired of playing their gizmos and gadgets and will start driving you a little crazy over Spring Break.  Here’s where loteria can be a lifesaver.  You can buy the card game, referred to by some as Mexican bingo, for less than $5 and the rules are pretty simple. Read More

Lessons on Fatherhood

He looks up to me for things I never even imagined he would.

Every time I spit, he spits right after me.  If we’re going to bed and I take of my shirt he does the same.  If I take off my tennis shoes and put on a pair of sandals, he does the same.  I have a wallet.  He wants one too.  He wants to pump gas, he wants to spray down the truck at the car wash, he wants to go to work with me, and one day work in the same office building “so that we can go to lunch together everyday.”  I can’t imagine what it is to see myself through those eyes… Read More

My parents like to tell the story of when we went to church in the Valley.  It was an Anglo-Mexican mixed community and services for all of us were at the same time.  According to mamá and papá, and my two older sisters for that matter, as soon as we’d walk into the building I’d walk away from them and head to the front of the church where I’d sit next to the little girls with the blue eyes and blonde hair.  No matter how much my mother would signal me with her hands to come back, worry in her face, they say I’d only turn back at them and turn away, as if taunting them with my disobedience… Read More 

Here’s a great reason not to cook tonight!  No sólo because you’re knocked out from the weekend… and all of the complications of a hectic and typical lunes, but also because it would be for a great cause.  What better than to be able to take our loved ones out to dinner knowing that every single penny we spend on our meals will be donated to the thousands of children who depend on St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital every year?  

As part of National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, Chili’s Grill & Bar will be donating 100 percent of their profits today (September 26, 2011) to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which helps children from around the world battle against cancer, regardless of their families’ ability to pay for treatment.  For more information about this cause and to look up the Chili’s closest to you CLICK HERE. 

¡Provecho!