Navidad! Such a special time of the year. As many special occasions this year, Navidad 2020 will be different and in a smaller scale, but it can still be magical and fun for the little bilingual ones at home!
As we are raising bilinguals, I try to balance between the hit toy or what they really really want, and a couple in there that also enforce their Spanish skills. It takes a bit more research, but it is all worth it. Lucky you, our very own Janny has been building great lists for a couple of years (2017, 2018, 2019) and we have put our heads together to keep the list growing.
We are a multicultural family and as such we celebrate all things Latino and all things American. While Thanksgiving is not widely celebrated in Mexico, it is a big deal for my husband and a time filled with traditions for his side of the family. While raising our bodoques bilingual we get them exposed to both languages and both cultures.
We typically go back to his hometown and have dinner with the whole extended family - aunts & uncles, cousins and their families, something around 35 people. (Though this year with the pandemic, Thanksgiving will be a bit different.) Dinner is a potluck – each family brings something, so it is filled with flavorful turkey, stuffing, so many sides and all kinds of pies that one could imagine! Before dinner one of the older uncles presides prayer and then we all go around the table sharing what one was thankful for that year. It is a time to reflect and be grateful for all your blessings, something that I want my little Latinx to learn.
As a Latina mom it is so important to pass down my Hispanic Heritage to “los bodques”. Día de los Muertos is such a special celebration for many Latino cultures and especially big in Mexico. I grew up celebrating every year, it was a whole affair. First, we would go to el Mercado de Portales to get everything for the ofrenda (the altar) calaveritas de azúcar and chocolate, flores de zempasúchitl (marigold flowers) and of course the pumpkins and mole for the food. In Mexico, we prepare our ancestor’s favorite dishes and wrap them very well so they can last for a week or so and place them in the ofrenda. Do you celebrate in your country? What are the special dishes or ways to celebrate?
A couple of ways for passing our Latino traditions are of course celebrating in your own home and making the little Latinx part of it, music, and our beloved books. Here are some of our top pics:
Let’s get in the Halloween mood with these awesome bilingual books for Latino kids...
Elections are especially important events in our country, and for our family they are so embedded in our lives that in fact our biggest milestones are marked by an election. When I met my husband, I met him because he was working on a political campaign - 2008 elections. We got engaged as the 2009 mid-term elections unfolded. We had our first baby during the 2018 primary elections and found out we were expecting our second baby at the national convention. So yes, politics and political campaigns are very much a part of our lives.
Now, how to talk to "los bodoques" about an election? But more importantly, how to explain the importance of voting? Here are some book suggestions about elections and voting...
Most states are going back to school within the following weeks or even might have started a couple of weeks ago, but how is going back to school during the pandemic going to look like? Well, as we are learning it will look and be quite a different experience depending on your state, county, school district, or even public vs private school. The only common theme is that it will be different.
Here are some Spanish and English book recommendations to support navigate the 2020 back to school.
