Big Weekend for DREAMers

June 25, 2012 issue

Just as President Obama was making a huge announcement on Friday, I was pulling out the latest issue of Time from my mailbox. This was a pretty big weekend for young undocumented immigrants in the U.S as the government will no longer deport young people under the age of 30 who came into this country before the age of 16, been here five consecutive years, have received a high school diploma or GED or served in the military and have no criminal record. There are about 800,000 people who meet this criteria; but it’s important to understand that although they won’t be deported, there is still a rough road ahead of them to become U.S. citizens.

I never write about politics or discuss it much outside my home but I really wanted to be part of this discussion by providing some information that I myself  wasn’t completely sure about. Friday was a historic event that affects people in our everyday lives. It affects families, many who have at least one undocumented person in their family and who worry about being split up one day. It’s also important for people who don’t know how hard it is to live in fear, who say, “send them home”, and accuse of undocumented immigrants of taking jobs away from citizens and using up government resources to understand a few facts.  I wanted to share a bit from the article, “Not Legal Not Leaving”, in this current issue of Time. [Read more...]

Parenting 101

Yes, I own all these books shown above. I have friends who own more and I have friends who don’t own any at all. It’s all quite alright, I read anything that comes my way and I don’t mind that all these books have a different philosophy regarding parenting.

Oh parenting. It’s been on the news so much these past few weeks, everything from the tanorexic mom to the diapering mom to the Time Magazine cover mom, even a new movie about parenting coming out this weekend! And the critics that we become…it’s always easier to judge how “bad” some parents are and how the rest of us try our “best”.

I’m not a fan of attachment parenting, authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, Tiger-mom parenting…I welcome the knowledge I receive from all of the different styles but eventually it comes down to common sense parenting for me.

I’m noticing that as much as we like to think that Jose and I are raising all our children the same, it’s quite impossible. Santi has a big brother and a little brother but Diego was an only child for four years, doesn’t have an older brother and has two little brothers. The family dynamics, the city we live in, the time I now have for each one of them, it’s so hard for me to stick to one way of raising my boys. Jose and I are parenting differently than we did five years ago, we still listen to our doctors (we’re on our fourth pediatrician), read parenting books and articles, talk to our friends, listen to our mothers…so much influence right?

It makes more sense to use common sense, see what works for each family, not to be intimated by anyone regarding your child rearing. In the end, YOU and your family have to be happy. It doesn’t hurt to look up, “how long should my newborn be sleeping?” in one of the reference baby books, but if sleeping with your baby (as one book might suggest) makes you uncomfortable, don’t do it! Knowledge is key but your instincts are priceless.

Good luck to all my new mommy friends! Click on any of the books above (they are good) to order and read up!
Experienced mommies, did you stock up on reading material before your first born? Second or third baby?

Have a great weekend!

Your friend,

Betty