Can you be alone?

At some point of your life you probably came across situations when you had to be alone, either because your partner was travelling; your children were at their grandparents house and many others. To some these situations can be dealt with no problem, but to others much harder. In these moments we can feel lost, not knowing what to do and often even bothered by this feeling. Of course it all depends on your age and the situation you are in, but overall this requires some reflection.

Leisure on the expat's life!

Whether are men or women, single or married at some point on the your process of adaptation in a new country you'll feel the pressure imposed by family, friends and often by ourselves!

Parenting taboos!

Talking about sexuality, drugs, physical and psychological violence, gender and death are still taboos in our society. However these subjects are progressively being treated with more respect and freedom.

My son does not know how to lose!

Everyone likes to win, be it a football match or a race. When we are young winning is a necessity. Every interaction with parents or friends becomes a competitive environment and winning is the priority.

The jealousy of the children towards the couple!

The jealousy of the children towards the couple is more common than you think. You've probably witnessed some scene in your family and even found it funny or worried about the issue.

Live among other cultures!

One of the great blessings and challenges of leaving our country of origin is living with people from different cultures. However, this is not an easy task for anyone; requires patience and the ability of knowing how to respect the habits and characteristics of other people.

Grandparents and grandchildren!

The relationship between grandparents and grandchildren can be a source to pleasure, affection, understanding and rejuvenation but, as any other family relationship, it needs some care so that one can actually enjoy, grow and learn.

Challenges of an expat partner!

Contrary to what many people may think to be an expat partner has its ups and downs. Moving to another country is an adventure for the whole life. It’s scary, exciting, intimidating and inspiring in equal measure. There are ups and downs in every moment of planning, packaging and moving.

Respect for the rhythm !

                                                                           Photo by @sysmstudio

In some situations we use to say children are slow…slow to eat, to dress, to walk, to obey and many others. But are they indeed slow ? And compared to what?

Bilingual children and the value of languages!

As I wrote in the post "raising children in another culture," raising children in another culture involves many changes and challenges for both parents and children. A frequent concern of parents is bilingualism, but not only about possible language difficulties with the use of two languages, but how to make the child or even the teenager value this new language and realize the benefits that this new language brings and the cultures it gives access to.

How to educate financially!

Educating is not an easy task and we can not only reduce to academic issues. The education that you give your child has the family and personal luggage, involving world views, values, beliefs and other factors.

Different from those years when the financial education was the subject only for adults and a taboo theme among families, today families are introducing it to their children. Some factors as the globalization and the consumerism led to a transformation of man's relationship with money.

How to talk about drugs!

Each day more children and teenagers are being exposed to drugs. We know that the exposition can have different sources such as the social media, friends and even relatives. This week's post don’t have the intention to discuss the hereditary factors or environmental predispositions and also individual or family factors that can lead to drug abuse, such as social vulnerability and low self-esteem.

My goal is to help parents and relatives talking with the children and teenagers about drugs, since talking about it can cause discomfort and embarassment to parents and fear and curiosity to children and teenagers.

How to Talk About Racial Differences with Children!

As I previously mentioned talking with children and teenagers is a skill that can be improved over time. As I wrote in other posts, some parents might be tempted to avoid certain topics as these force the parents to question the right moment, age and situation to discuss them.

I've already written on the blog about some common subjects such as sexuality, jealousy, lying, adoption, disability, money, drugs and Alzheimer. I invite you to take a look at these posts and, if you wish, send me a message with your question, since answering them might helpt others in similar situation. 

Perhaps talking about racial differences can be easy, even common, for your family; for others, not so much. But how can talk about this subject with children?

How to deal with lies!

It comes as no surprise that at some point of your life you have lied to someone. This behavior can be seen more frequently in children, but unfortunately we see it in teenagers and adults. 

To children, lying can be related to desires and fantasy or sometimes used to avoid consequences of any behavior. Young children are used to lie to express desires and what they think, without realizing the bad connotation associated with this act.

Educational cartoons, what's behind them?!

Did you ever stop and think about why cartoons are how they are and what they teach us? Cartoons appeared at the end of the 19th. century and since then have gone through big changes. In the early days the were colorless and whitout sound, today it's an explosion of colors and yelling. Every cartoon had a message related to the social and political structure of its time. 

Then came the 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's with cartoons which portrayed the family's everyday problems, regardless how weird. Some examples are Felix The Cat, Mickey, Betty Boop, Bugs Bunny and Tom & Jerry .

Raising children in another culture!

As I wrote in other posts, leaving your home country involves many gains and losses. Most of these will not be so noticeable and it may take you some time to get everything in perspective. 

When a family with children, whether they are small or not, leaves its country of origin, it also affects the pros/cons and new challenges appear.

Be Grateful!

As children grow older and reach cognitive and emotional maturity some values as honesty, self-esteem, gratitude, and justice are more clearly understood. These values can and must be learned since the early stages. Contrary to what you might think this is not done through lecturing or long discussion, but with small conversations, actions and examples set by the parents.

The transmission of values does not happen overnight, but are assimilated by way of example and identification. It’s up to parents to be careful not to require or demand from the child something she has never had contact with.

Paternal figure!

When we think about childhood development and others related subjects, we think about the mother or other maternal figure. The relationship between a child and the maternal figure is fundamental to child's development. But what about the paternal figure, the father, grandfather, and even the uncle? Why do we speak so little about them?