Parenting with Pride Latino Style

Starred review from September 1, 2004
Though all parents struggle with the difficulties of raising children, Latino parents often face a special set of challenges that revolve around the question of assimilation. Some believe that the only way to make sure their children succeed is to renounce all old customs. Others work to instill their children with a strong sense of cultural identity and tradition. Vazquez's position is deceptively straightforward:"If you want a 'piece of the American pie' for you and your sons and daughters, you must adjust." But for her, adjustment is a far cry from renunciation, and she uses her skills as a psychologist and expert in multicultural issues to teach parents how to raise children who are bicultural, able to swim with the sharks but also proud of themselves and their heritage. The principals of her philosophy are presented using the acronym ORGULLO, which means"pride" in Spanish. Most of them will be familiar to readers of parenting books: listen to your child, keep up with media influences, establish good lines of communication in your family, etc. But Vazquez (The Maria Paradox) applies these ideas with exceptional sensitivity to old-school Latin American values, showing parents how to ease away from an emphasis on total obedience, for example, without losing their position as their child's primary guide and role model. Particularly helpful is her advice on teaching young children to be bilingual (she's a strong advocate of the one person-one language method). Latinos are now the largest minority group in the United States; for them and for the doctors and teachers who tend to their children, Vasquez's book is an outstanding addition to the parenting reference shelf.