Dear Paulina:
          Greetings Ma’am. I am a 39 year-old female who currently lives in New York City, NY. I live with my husband and my two daughters. We are natives from the Dominican Republic, but moved to the United States in search for a superior life. My family and I are not the closest family out there. I am especially very distant from my two daughters, which is something I am not proud to say.  I do reckon that all mothers should be close to their children, but unfortunately, I am very distant from my two daughters and it is something I wish to change. I really do wish I could be able to say I am close to my two daughters, but if you could only imagine how harsh they treat me. It’s honestly difficult for me to talk about this, but I am desperate for help at this point.
              My family doesn’t appreciate the things I do for them, and they especially don’t care about the inventions I make on a daily basis in my basement. Making inventions is my devoted passion and I do it to make life simpler for my family and all the American mothers out there, but of course my daughters don’t accept this. They call me a fool for this, and claim it’s like I am aiming our own enemy against us. They constantly mock me and call me “Benjamin Franklin Mami” and “Thomas Edison Mami”. I suppose none of my daughters are very encouraging. My daughters believe in the fact that all my inventions are useless, but they simply don’t use their heads to see the different highlights of my incredible new wonders. They take my inventions as jokes and it hurts me to hear them talk about how much of a useless mother and wife I am.
               Can you imagine how difficult it is to want to do something you have keenness for and have your own family insult you in such a way when they should be the first ones supporting you? Everything I do is for the best of my family because I adore my girls, and I would do anything to see them be carefree. The only way I know how to express these feelings is by inventing new artifacts to make their life easier, but it does not seem to work for my family. They reject my love once I try to show it towards them, and mockingly tell me to go back and work on my inventions.  I would really like your help on this situation. Should I stop doing what I cherish for my family?
                                                                                                                     Sincerely,
                                                                                                                                                               Mother of Invention

Dear Mother of Invention:
              I think it’s amazing the fact that you invent new artifacts on a daily basis to help your family! Don’t let anyone make you feel unpleasant about doing what you adore. Of course if I was seeing this from your families point of view, I wouldn't think the same because I would feel unimportant, and I would think you are putting way more attention to your inventions then you do to me, even though in this case I know it’s not true, but your family may not know that. I also think that your family does appreciate this, but they may feel like you simply don’t care about them due to the fact that you are always inventing. I don’t think you should stop doing this devoted passion of yours, but I do highly suggest starting to spend quality time with your family. Your daughters need to know they can count on you for anything and that you care for them. I suggest starting to take a break once in a while from all this inventing and spend quality time with your family. Maybe start by planning a camping trip, a family picnic, or even plan a trip to the park. The simplest things can mean the most to someone. What matters is the intention you are doing it with. Family time is the most incomparable thing you could ever have; take advantage you have a beautiful and healthy family and enjoy them while you can!
                Another suggestion I have for you is to simply have a seat with your family and talk about all these issues and think of new idea together to make things in your family more suitable. Maybe these feelings are mutual and your family feels like you don’t appreciate them! Together, you can all think of a solution to this complication. Talking about your feelings and putting things on the table can help all of you and make all of you feel more superior. Inventing artifacts on a daily basis may not be the best way to show your love to your family; I suggest you start showing your love to your family in a more effective way and I guarantee they will do the same to you. Don’t give up on having the family you dream of! To believe is to achieve
                                                                                                                                                                         Sincerely, Paulina
Dear Paulina:
              Hello Ms. Paulina. I am a teenage female who lives in New York City, NY. I live with my mami and my papi, and my younger sister. We are all natives from the Dominican Republic, and ever since we moved over to the United States it has been very challenging for me to fit in with all these American teenagers. Besides that, I am writing to you because I feel very alone. At school, I constantly get bullied by numerous amounts of kids and I have no one to talk to about this situation. I feel like I may be suffering from depression at this moment in my life; being a teenager is a difficult moment in all of our lives, and not having the support and love from my parents makes it even more difficult for me.
                You see, once I get home all my mother does is fuss and scold about how I’m a bad daughter. Instead she should ask me how I’m doing or simply how my day at school was. She has the guts to say I’m a bad daughter when all she does is sit in her basement with an overhead lamp and invent useless artifacts. She’s a real failure of a mom, right? Here, I am trying to fit in America among Americans; I need help figuring out who I am, why all these Irish kids whose grandparents were micks two generations ago, why they were calling me spics. Whatever that means. Why had we come to this country in the first place? Important, crucial, final things, you see, and here is my mother, who doesn't have a second to help me puzzle any of this out.
                I feel like my parents could really care less about me and what goes on in my life. I guess you can say I resent her spending time on all those idiotic inventions. I feel left out in this family, like if I could simply vanish and no one would notice. Sometimes my sister and I would seek her out when she seemed to have a moment to talk to us: we were having trouble at school or we wanted to persuade my father to give us permission to go into the city or to go to a shopping mall or a movie, in broad daylight! My mother would wave us out of her room and continue working on her inventions. I seem to never have her or my families support in anything I do. Do you have any possible suggestions for me in this situation? Please let me know what you think!
                                                                                                                                                                     Sincerely, Lonely Girl

Dear Lonely Girl:
                It is horrible to hear that you think you are suffering from depression! Depression is something no one should ever go through in their life, and it makes me extremely melancholy to hear you say this. I myself have been through depression, and I know what it feels like to get bullied and picked on by all the kids at school, worst of all, I know what it’s like not to have anyone care or notice the pain you feel. I have been through all that, and my parents never cared about the fact I was going through these difficult moments in my life, and they never took the time to help me. I regret never asking for help or talking to anyone about how I felt because I kept everything to myself and unfortunately it lead me to do things I now regret; things that are horrible to even mention. That is why, I highly suggest you talk to your parents about this and seek for help. You are important, and you are loved by many, don’t let anyone tell you different.  You are getting older and turning into a mature, young lady and that may be one of the reasons your mother expects you to handle things on your own. Part of growing up is taking responsibility for your actions and learning about life on your own.
                       Another suggestion I have for you is to start to bond more with your mother. Maybe you should start supporting her on her devoted passion of inventing artifacts. Treat others how you want to be treated; if you want your mother to support you and be there for you, you should do the same to her. I guarantee this will make your bond more desirable for both of you. Make sure to be patient, major changes like these take time. Stop looking at everything so negative and complain so much because what good does it do? At such a young age you are only causing negative things for yourself. A negative mind can never give you a positive life. Stay up little lady!

                                                                                                                                                                       Sincerely, Paulina