WELCOME TO MY WEBSITE! A place for parents of all ages with children from all age groups, especially older children!
Now that you are here, let me tell you a little bit about me. I was born and raised in Puerto Rico and I came to the United States when I was 21 years old to study. I earned a communications degree from Pepperdine University in California, and became a bicultural free-lance writer and now a blogger and book author. Soon after my son was born, I found I could combine my two life passions, writing and motherhood. For eleven years I wrote a highly regarded parenting column for La Opinion, the largest Spanish language newspaper in the country, and became a voice for Latino parents before there was a true foundation of online resources. At that time, I also wrote for Ser Padres and Healthy Kids en Español.
In 2011 and for the next three years my articles appeared in Vista Magazine, which is distributed nationally and online via the ImpreMedia Group in the top 15 U.S. Hispanic markets. In 2014, I began blogging and joined todobebe.com and HipLatina.com. I am now also featured in Huffington Post’s, Voces and Mama’s por el Mundo, with a monthly blog, ‘Café in LA’.
My articles address a vast range of issues facing immigrant parents who seek to find a balance between the culture they left behind in their countries and the culture they adopted when they moved to the United States. They range from the how-to, challenges and rewards of raising bilingual and bicultural children to sibling rivalry, especially when some of the children are here and some are “there,” to the effects of the families living apart to the pros and cons of adopting American values and traditions, to many other topics including how parents relationships with children evolves throughout their kids’ milestones: tweens, teens, college age, young adults and even millennials.
My first book, Raising Bilingual Children/ Cómo Crian Niños Bilingues was published in English and Spanish by Simon and Schuster in 2014.
My second book called, Arroz con Pollo and Apple Pie: Raising Bicultural Children, will be released soon. I am also excited to announce that I am writing a bilingual children’s series entitled Yunitos’s Adventures. The first in the series, Español No, Mami” (Spanish No, Mommy) is geared to motivate children ages 4-7 to feel pride for their family’s native language.
Parenting is rewarding yet complicated. And when you add different cultures and different ways to a value system, it becomes even more challenging. There are many lines weave into parenting, it is not black, white and gray only! There are many other colors in that rainbow and that is why my website logo is not linear! Ha!
I hope this website serves as a resource and gives you guidance. If anything, food for thought! We aim to share, educate, inform and empower. And to walk with you as you become the best parent for your bilingual and bicultural children!
¡Bienvenidos!
-Maritere
