Pedro’s oldest kids, twins Lupe and Ana age 24.
When Maria and I started having kids, I knew that I wanted to build a strong family that spoke both English and Spanish. One of Maria’s sisters did not teach her children Spanish. I remember going over to Maria’s house when we were dating and Maria’s mom only spoke Spanish. This was a tremendous problem because the children could not communicate with their own grandmother. I witnessed how frustrated the grandma would get because it was very tough not being able to talk to her own grandkids. From that point I decided that I would speak Spanish to my kids early on so that they would be able to communicate with our family members who only speak Spanish.
Secondly, Maria and I decided that education was something that we wanted to emphasize to our children. Coming from Mexico, I saw that many Americans do not take advantage of the incredible education system that we have in this country.
Pedro making tamales with daughters Ana and Valeria.
In Mexico, high school is like college because you have to pay for your books and transportation. However, in the United States there are buses, and the school provides you with most of your class materials. When we lived in Arizona my children were “A” students, but upon arrival in New Hampshire the school officials told me that my children were two grades behind. This goes to show that there is a large difference in the quality of education within the United States. I wanted my children to have the best so I am glad that we moved to Hanover so that they could be challenged.
I am very proud of all my children (Lupe, Ana, Valeria, Pedro Jr., and Moises) because they all went on to study in college except for Moises who is still in high school. Although it might have seemed like we were over protective of our kids because we didn’t let them go to sleep overs and such it was done out of love.
Pedro was assistant coach for the Hanover Sr. Babe Ruth team in summer of 2012. Bottom row: sons Pedro Jr and Moises
I have seen kids their age in Arizona who already have kids of their own which makes it very difficult to continue pursuing an education. Also, we tried to protect them by moving to Hanover to escape the traps of drugs and gangs that many children fall into due to the environment around them. I cannot describe how proud I am of my children because of their education one day they will be able to pursue better jobs and make a better life for their own families.