Dear Cecy,
My mother is always inventing something, and sketching on her notebook all the time. My sisters and I  try to find a way to talk to her when she seems to be available.Whenever we are having trouble at school, she rather not hear us and makes us leave her room. I am from the Dominican Republic, so I am trying to fit in to America and my mother doesn’t have a second to talk to us. The kids at school have been so discriminating, they have even tried throwing stones at my sisters and I. She is a good enough parent, when it comes to scolding and lecturing us, but a terrible mom when I need to talk to her as a friend. I just wish she could consider us more important and valuable than her inventions, that I think will probably not succeed.How can I get her attention? What can I do to let her know that I need her?

Dear Daughter of Invention,
I understand that you feel troubled with your mom’s lack of attentiveness, but you must try to comprehend her point of view. You should be more encouraging towards her and her inventions. If she is inventing all the time maybe it’s because she wants to do something with her life. It’s true, you need attention, but how about her? Maybe if you support her, she’ll be able to commit herself fully to you. Every mother wants the best for their daughters, but sometimes they forget what they need to pay attention to. In this case you should definitely be direct with your ,mother and tell her how you truly feel about her not paying attention to you, I’m sure this will help sort things out between you and her.

Dear Cecy,
I love inventing, and I wish more importance would be given to my ideas. I am able to express my creativity through this. I am able to have a talent and something to do other than filling in columns of how much money we had made at work that day. I don’t feel like I have my family’s full support. For example, I have tried showing them my invention of a removable can opener from a car bumper or the nozzle head of the shower that sprays shampoo for you.When I try to show them these ideas I have thought of, they just make a joke out of it. They’ve called me Thomas Edison and Benjamin Franklin when I’ve showed them my ideas. I know I have great ideas because the one I had about the suitcase with the wheels was later invented. I just want my family to be more encouraging to me. How can I get my family’s support?

Dear Inventing Mom,
I know that it can be frustrating to have no one on your side, but maybe you should be more direct with them. Tell them exactly how you feel, that you would really like if they would listen to you. Make it clear to them that you want them to support you with your inventions. You can tell your family that their support means a lot to you, that it will help you grow as a person and be able to do something you love. It is important for you to be happy as well, and that will help you be there for them as well. Communication is really important between families and that is the key to support. Maybe you too, should pay more attention to them and that might help fix things between you all. 

Dear Cecy,
My family and I had to move here to the United States because of problems back in the Dominican Republic. I am doing the best I can to help my family get comfortable here, because I want what’s best for them. We’ve had some family issues recently, though, and I would like your advice on how we should make up. My daughter was assigned to write a speech for school and the first attempt of it was the cause if our conflict. The speech was completely disrespectful towards her teachers and boastful. I was outraged with the speech my daughter had started, so I decided to take it from her hands and rip it apart. I didn’t realize that I had been too harsh and had definitely hurt my daughter’s feelings.  Even though she ended up making a better one, I totally ruined her speech, what should I do to make up for it? How can I let her know I still love her and feel proud of her?

Dear Troubled Father,
I understand you feel horrible about what you have done to your daughter’s speech. At first she probably won’t want to talk to you, but eventually she’ll get over it. You must apologize to her for your outrage, but later explain to her the reason of your outbreak. It was better that you told her to not give that speech, because it was disrespectful. Of course you could’ve done it in another, more kind way. You can still redeem yourself as a father. Your job is to teach values and morals to your family, and that’s what you did. Explain this to her, she will understand, if not now later. Gifts can’t buy forgiveness, but maybe this time it will help show how proud you are of her. Maybe you can buy her a typewriter. If she enjoys writing and literature she’ll appreciate that. Don’t worry, she’ll forgive you and will be able to understand the purpose of your corrections.