Raising Bilingual Children

Kathy Escamilla & Susan Hopewell

Raising bilingual children in the United States may be more challenging than it is in other societies, where language diversity is favored and less burdened by negative attitudes. Bilingual families face the same myriad of child-rearing uncertainties as their monolingual peers do, with the added complexity of maintaining linguistic diversity in a society where diversity, although valued in some circles, is far from being embraced across all levels and sectors. Support for raising bilingual children varies extensively; however, the situations many confront are similar. Parents raising bilingual children in the United States are participating in a culture that embraces monolingualism as its dominant linguistic ideology; English remains the primary or exclusive language of dominant discourse and economic power. Languages are cognitive, linguistic, and societal resources. The decision to nurture and value bilingualism affirms the importance of all languages in communicating parental wisdom and experience. This choice, however, carries with it ...

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