Mothering Abroad

Bilingual Babe Well, now I have two of them. Elías, at 16 months, is quite a bit more vocal than Pedro was at that age, and he already has quite…

My next door neighbor is at it again. I hear her through the walls, filling buckets of water for mopping, vacuuming the throw rug in her bedroom. And as if…

The first thing I noticed was the green. Tall grass, big leafy trees. The scratchy dryness of Madrid in summer seemed more than a plane ride away as I got…

At a parent meeting at my son Pedro’s preschool, I corner his teacher. “So, how’s he doing?” “Oh, he’s fine,” she answers. “Although sometimes he just sort of, well, does…

I’m at Pedro’s preschool, in a parent education workshop about exploring our childrearing philosophies. I’ve been looking forward to the chance to meet and exchange ideas with other parents, and…

Where were you on March 11, 2004? If you are American, you probably don’t remember. If you are Spanish — or, like me, living in Spain — you will probably…

It’s 9:50 am in a not-so-small town outside of Madrid. I’m pushing a double stroller across the bridge over the highway on the way to Pedro’s preschool. After I drop…

“The _____ on the bus go round and round . . .” What red-blooded American preschooler would not be able to fill in the gap on that one? Mine. Of…

July 2003 The sudden emotion welling up in me threatens to overflow as I pay for the magazine, commenting to the friendly cashier at the newsstand. “Qué pena, lo de…

By the time this column is published, our family size will have increased by one. Since, as I write, the big event is drawing nearer every day, I find myself…

Dar mucho, pedir poco. “Give much, ask for little.” This is the motto of the “motherhood medallion,” created in 1969 here in Spain to acknowledge the many sacrifices involved in…