Children come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and abilities, and it's important to teach them to celebrate these differences from birth. As bicultural and bilingual, my children straddle two languages and cultures on a daily basis, and I want to introduce them to and expose them to cultures, traditions, and lifestyles that differ from their own, so that they may begin to develop understanding and empathy for others. April has widely been known as “Autism Awareness Month” in the United States as a way to empower autistic individuals and their families, and this year the  Autism Society of America  has been leading a significant effort for the federal government to officially designate April as  “Autism Acceptance Month.”  According to the Autism Society of America, the shift in the use of terminology aims to foster acceptance and ignite change through building better awareness of the signs, symptoms, and realities of  autism.  Sin...

There's no doubt that the first five years of a child's life are formative and indicative of later success throughout their lives. As an educator, I know preschool can play an important part in the cognitive and social development of toddlers. However, in this unprecedented time of pandemic life, social distancing and remote learning, sending your child to preschool is a personal decision that varies by family. And our family has decided not to send our daughter to preschool.  The research on the benefits of preschool is irrefutable, and there have been incentives for families to enroll their children in preschool since the 1960's and 1970's. Many BIPOC families have actually been targeted and encouraged to send their children to preschool, with HeadStart and other free programs available. According to a DOE report , access to high-quality preprimary education can be the key that unlocks education equality across races, geography and income.  With all of my experience a...

It’s been a journey of 683 days.  I knew this day was coming, but it still feels so bittersweet now that it is here. The first time that I nursed my son, it was just minutes after he was born. And now the last night that I nursed my son has come and gone. Although he was born by a scheduled c-section and came into this world screaming, the nurse placed him on my chest for some skin-to-skin contact and our bond began. As soon as I was returned to my hospital room, I attempted nursing him and he latched just perfected. Even the nurses were impressed with how smoothly our breastfeeding journey began. "This must not be your first," they said, and I smiled and I nodded. I nursed Maya until the night before she left for a trip to Guatemala with my husband, when she was 22-months-old. That was also a bittersweet night, but since I knew I wouldn't be nursing her when she got home two weeks later, it felt so finite and I was ready.  However the second time around, there was no imp...

This past week, the United States celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Week of the Young Child, which recognizes early learning, young children, their teachers, families, and communities, and is sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children .  Locally, the Early Childhood Alliance of Framingham hosted the first Framingham Virtual Family Fair , which brought together community partners who showcased live and rerecorded content for kids ages 0-6 and their families. We were happy to participate as presenters and share a live Play Learn & Grow Bilingual group on Monday, in which we sang songs, read a book and did an activity, while developing vocabulary in English and Spanish.  And, we produced a very special edition of Storytime Bilingue for the event. In celebration of the Week of the Young Child and our anniversary of our Storytime Bilingue series, we reread the very first book we used for our inaugural bilingual story time, back when the soci...

 Snow, snow, snow!  February is the snowiest month for us here in Massachusetts. So before Papi went out to plow last week, we asked him to read us a famous story about a very special snow day! Follow along as this little one explores the snowy world, and check out the mountains of snow we have outside our own windows!

 Maya has shown a lot of interest in the alphabet recently, so I figured it's time to start learning some letters. As a bilingual family and now that I'm doing homeschool preschool with the kids, I gave some thought as to whether I should teach the alphabet in English or Spanish first.  Since quarantine, Maya's English vocabulary has exploded. I think back to when my mom was worried that she wouldn't learn any English at all, and now Maya is nearly fluent without me having to explicitly teach her a word. Since she has been spending so much time with her English-speaking grandparents and watching children's programming in English, her vocabulary and fluency really bloomed. As soon as she figured out that English is the language of the community, she now demonstrates a preference for English. I continuously find myself having to remind her to speak in Spanish with my husband and me, so I decided it made most sense to focus on teaching her Spanish phonics. That way we ...

We are excited to announce we're continuing our partnership with the Early Childhood Alliance of Framingham , and over the next few weeks, we'll be showcasing a series of bilingual books from our friend, Jane Cohen! As soon as Christmas is over, stores fill with pink and red heart decorations, boxes of candy, roses, and an overwhelming amount of stuffed animals ranging from mini monkeys to life-sized bears. It's hard to navigate the onslaught which is commercialized Valentine's Day. So instead of buying in to the over-capitalized hype, the Barrios family stays in,and we spend Valentine's weekend with the ones we love.  We celebrated February's week of love with a beautiful story about hearts and happiness. What makes your heart happy? Is it dancing outside with the sun on your cheeks? Listening or playing to music? Cooking? Cuddling? This book gives beautifully-illustrated examples of self-love and familial love, which makes it the perfect way to remember Saint ...