By Maribel Quiala, MSW, LCSW

The Power of Language in the Latino Family Dynamic

Children of Latino families are often the only means of communicating with the Anglo world.   Although on the surface this may appear to be a practical, even reasonable solution, making a child overly responsible for an adult’s communication can alter the family dynamic.  An appropriate balance of power is necessary for any family to function effectively.

Initially, children are often asked to interpret for their parents, with no serious impact to the family structure or integrity of information.   However, as time goes on, this is not always the case.

Studies demonstrate that some health care providers have no choice but to rely on untrained bilingual staff, friends and family members, many times children, to provide critical and often very private information.   Having a child interpret for a parent about sexual matters and or spousal abuse can place undue pressure and responsibility on a child.

A Shift in the Power Balance

Also, when children are the only source interpreting educational information to a parent about themselves, at an open house, conference or parent/teacher meeting, the stage is set for the balance of power to again be inappropriately distributed.   Even in a school setting, they might omit critical information and/or alter the content to their advantage.

A child having to interpret sensitive health information on behalf of a family member is just as bad as making the child the messenger for telling their parent(s) that the school is about to expel them due to bad conduct or hold them back a grade due to poor academic performance.

Many Hispanics/Latina immigrants are under utilizing public health care services. They are reluctant because they lack information about the services to do so.   Many times they do not participate in their children’s school activities because of embarrassment due to language barriers and inability to navigate the educational system.   Even though they want to be more involved in their children’s education they often face obstacles due to their limited English skills.   Already overburdened school systems may not have the resources to provide a proportionate number of bilingual personnel.

Age-Appropriate Information?

It is not always advisable to have  children interpret for their parents, because a child should not be interpreting non age-appropriate information or be put in the position of being able to manipulate the interpreting process for their own benefit.

When children inadvertently become the heads of households simply because they speak the language, they end up controlling all types of communication that can adversely affect family roles and relationships.   The parents may actually become inferior and as the child gets older, if parents do not learn to speak English, the co-dependency can span generations.

Ideally, kids should be looking to their parents for advice, guidance, direction, security and clarification — not the other way around!