After giving birth to my daughter two years ago, I didn't immediately know how to bond with her. I had some elements of postpartum depression as I had previously suffered two pregnancy related losses. There was also a sense of loss of my own identity, as up to this time I had a full-time job averaging 80 hour work weeks. Now I was at home with this little one who could not talk back to me. I often felt lost and alone, trying to figure out a way to bond with this new being. I remembered that when I was a little girl, I loved to go to the library and take out as many books as I could about countries all over the world. I decided to make use of my maternity leave by catching up at the library. One of the first times I went, on the shelf were CDs of a smiling baby looking back at me- baby's first steps in Spanish. I thought wow, I have always loved the world of foreign language. This should be fun to listen to with my daughter.
From this time, I have checked out over 500 similar items to promote bonding with my now two little ones. I am able to both bond with my children as well as continue to find a source of intellectual stimulation during the long days home alone with my babies. Even greater is that studies show the earliest exposure to foreign language should be as early as possible. This makes much sense- while it may feel next to impossible for a native English speaker to first start learning Mandarin Chinese as an adult, babies learning the two languages early on do not become confused between the sounds.
There are many ways to expose a young child to a second language. Perhaps one of the simplest ways is by reading to them. The goal of this website is to share recommendations for resources in Spanish for young children, starting with a list of 1000 books to read before Kindergarten. From then on, I hope I can expand to other resources as well, with an end result of enhancing the Mommy & Me period for mothers and their beloved children.
I hope you will follow me on this journey to a world of new places and words for our children! :)
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