Mariana
Mariana loves sandwiches best, although going 95% vegan two years ago means having traded in ham and swiss for eggplant and roasted red pepper. Her boys, Santiago (5) and Sebastian (3), agree that sliced bread is the greatest thing since sliced bread. The boys are native Spanish speakers despite the fact that neither of their parents is, which has made raising them in Spanish a labor of love. Her commitment to raising bilingual children was made possible by being a first-generation Chilean-American born and raised in New York City, and by having spent two pre-kid years living abroad in Mexico City and Salamanca, Spain. Mariana moved to the RGV in 2010 and never wants to live anywhere else. While the kids are at school, Mariana is a full-time Assistant Professor of Philosophy at UTRGV. She has written for the New York Times, Womankind Magazine, and Yahoo Parenting.
The Soul’s Emergency Backpack
An emergency backpack holds enough essentials items for three days. They recommend water, cans of food, swiss army knife, flashlight, rope, batteries stored in a waterproof container. When the emergency strikes, grab it and...
Micro-Resolutions for Summertime
If you had to boil it down, RGV Mama, what is essential for you to feel like it’s summertime? Whether you work full- or part-time, in or out of the home, RGV summers have...
Other People’s Children
Some women don’t love kids and decide not to have any. They see past the rainbows to the rainy days that cause them, and they realize that even a unicorn’s hooves occasionally get filled...
Who are RGV Moms?
Until recently, my six-year-old didn’t want to spend the summer in Mexico. His explained that he didn’t want to speak Spanish all the time, despite the fact that we raised him in Spanish, co-founded...
The Elephant in the Room: Smartphones
I don’t know if Momo was a hoax or not. What I do know is that it scared parents about smartphones technology, which, for my money, is a good thing.
The more parents begin to...
Curiosity Calls
In Big Magic, Liz Gilbert tells us to befriend curiosity. It can be any little whisper in your ear telling you to follow it. Except for alcohol or drugs, I would add, since I’ve...
January 2019: Setting Goals Daily, Monthly, Seasonally and Yearly
I’ve never shied away from a New Year’s resolution. Or a one-word theme. Or a calendar of any kind. But I’ve also been too sleep-deprived in the past six years to see a whole...
In Search of a Non-Materialistic Christmas
My family celebrates Christmas, but I’ve never liked the centrality of presents. For the past few years I have been working on getting my little ones to celebrate the whole season, not just the...
Parenting Philosophically: The Anger Edition
Since I teach philosophy for a living, it's often on my mind even when I get home and get into Mom mode. The Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle thought that feeling anger could be a...
In Praise of Family Meetings
Sunday afternoon is our time for family meetings. It is a strategy I read in some book somewhere, and my partner and I decided to try it in response to some defiance we were...