My husband speaks Spanish and English while I speak only English. I can understand some Spanish but not enough to have my household be soley a Spanish-speaking household. Hence the need for a bilingual household.
While language is on the top of the list of things of importance for our children we often struggle to keep it as a priority. We find it all to easy to resort back to English. It makes things easier. When speaking Spanish it takes much time to get things accomplished. A simple task now turns into a major task due to the time spent translating and trying to understand what needs done. Unfortunately we often want to try to make things go faster and the second language is thrown out the window.
Another struggle we have is with comprehension. My in laws are much more comfortable with Spanish than English. Due to this the kids have trouble understanding them and visa versa. If we could put more focus on learning Spanish we could overcome this obstacle and allow our families to connect even more.
Statistics show that the US has the 5th largest Spanish speaking population. Over 12% of the population speaks Spanish, even more in NY. Te benefits of being bilingual are far above that of speaking another language. “The bilingual brain develops more densely, giving it an advantage in various abilities and skills”. What mom wouldn’t want their children to be smarter? What mom wouldn’t do whatever it takes?
All in all we need to buckle down and get language back on the front burner. I need my husband to speak more Spanish in the house, if not only Spanish. I know I will get frustrated and confused but I should take this as a learning opportunity for myself as well as the kids. The kids come first.
Some other steps we are taking are attending a weekly book reading done in Spanish as well as a weekly Spanish class for the kids. I am excited to get back into raising our children to be bilingual. Who knows, maybe we will add some other languages into the mix!
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