RUNNING HEAD: PERSONA DOLL

Martinez 1

Persona Doll
Rosa Martinez
HD 412 Working with children and families in a diverse world
Christine Wilson
September 24, 2015

RUNNING HEAD: PERSONA DOLL

Martinez 2

Persona doll story

My parents came to the United States from Mexico when they were young during the
seventy era and they came to Los Angeles. My parents ended up having five children which I am
the middle child of two sisters and two brothers. witch I am the shortest of my siblings I am four
feet and seven inches tall with brown light skin brown eyes and black hair. I was born in South
Central L.A in nineteen eighty-five and raise there until I was ten years old. When my mom had
me my parents gave me my name from my grandmother my dads mom. I was raised with a
Hispanic parents that trough from Mexico the same customs and believes that they were though
when they were younger. Living in South Central L.A was hard for me and my family.
Growing up in South Central L.A witch the majority of the population are Latinos and
African Americans was hard for me because I was raised with a mentality that African American
where not nice and that they were all gang bangers, and drug dealers. Growing up with that
mentality about African Americans made me be afraid of African Americans when I was
younger. My dad would always tell me stories to make me believe that African Americans were
not nice people. I became to believe that my dad was right because as I could remember I saw so
many things growing up as a child that made me believe that he was right. Seeing everything that
I saw and my dad telling me stories I became very afraid of African Americans. That whenever I
would see an African American in school or around where I lived I would try to stay away from
them.
I was raise with a stay home mom and a working dad. Seeing my mom being a stay
home mom and my dad a working man I had the mentality that the mother had to be a stay home
mom and the father had to work and provide for the family. As I could remember my parents
were very over protective with me and my sibling that they did not let us play with other children

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Martinez 3

at their houses. I grew up in a very loving family where we I had a mother and a father that took
good care of me. As I grew up I would never see my parents show me any affection or to my
siblings my parents specially my mother would not come and hug me or give me a hug. As I
started growing up I became very shy and not show my felling to others due to the fact that I did
not know how to do it because my parents never show me how. So I started to be like my mother.
My mother became that way because my grandmother never show her any affection when she
was young and then she did the same when she had her own children.
Moving from South Central L.A to Whittier was hard for me because now the population
change from African Americans and Latinos to having the majority of the population Latinos,
Caucasians and Asians. Coming to a different city and to new things I started to become shyer. I
started to isolate myself from people and started to have fewer and fewer friends. I grew up being
a person that didnt care if I had friends or not. Ever since I was a child my parents would always
help me in everything I needed the help in they would sometimes even do it for me making it
very difficult for me to sometimes to things on my own. Now that I am older and a mother its
very difficult for me to do things on my own due to the fact that my mother would not let me do
anything on my own when I was younger. Growing up older I started to dress myself
conservative because my dad will never let me dress the way I wanted. He wanted me to dress
showing less skin. I started to become shyer and shyer to show my skin due to the fact that I was
prohibited from showing skin. You could tell than I am very conservative with the way I dress. I
tend to wear pants and shirts that dont show to much of my skin but, I am trying little by little
change the way I dress now as an adult I tend to try to show little more skin that what I usually
showed.

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Martinez 4

As time moves on my parents are still very old fashion they still have the mentality that
they had ever since they were younger. Being in a Hispanic family where we never see a women
finish school or continue their education right after high school my dad tried keeping me from
going back to school. He would always tell me Mija pa que estudias si de todos modos te vas a
casar y tus estudions de que te van a server sit e vas a dedicar a cuidar los ninos. which means
daughter why go to school and continue your education if youre going to get marry and have
kids and end up taking care of them. In my culture being Hispanic many older men have the
same mentality as my father where Hispanic women will stop their education or drop out of high
school. Having so many thing that happen in my family as I grew up made the person I am
many of its having to do with the way my parents where raise. I became a person that dont care
what other think about me continuing my education.
In my Hispanic family they have the mentality that we women have to do all the chores
and home and the men dont. Living here in the U.S that mentality that my parents were trying to
implement in me has change dramatically throughout the years due to the fact that I did not let
my parents make me believe that what they wanted me to do was right because I knew they were
not. The Hispanic families have that mentality because in the Hispanic population women tend
to have a lot of children making it impossible for them to pay for babysitting so the women end
up staying home and taking care of the children and raising them. My parents show me and told
me that men dont take care of the children they work outside the home. I came to believe that
my parents were not right as time passed because I became to see that the women is also needed
outside of the home to be able to provide for the family as well as the husband is providing for
the family.

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Martinez 5

Now that I am older and a mother I am starting to change some of the customs my parent
educated me with and making me think they were right for example, now that I have children I
decided to raise my twins by disciplining them different I dont want them to be raised in a house
hold like I was raised where it was okay to spank your child. I became with a mentality as I grew
up that there are other ways to discipline your child by giving them time out. In my parents
cultures that are also mine its okay for parents to spank their child. That is how I was raised
when I was younger getting spanked with the chancla or anything they would see specially my
mother was like that.
As I became older I became a person that is willing to grow and learn new things that we
I decided to continue my education and not let my tradition that Hispanic have put me down
and not let me continue my education. So I decided to study and become a teacher. At this point I
am continuing to pursue my education and am this closed to finish my education. Know I see
myself not that shy anymore and I am not letting others tell me what to do or not to do. At this
point I am a preschool teacher teaching young children that I love teaching and will continue
teaching until I am able to. My identity is that I am me and that I dont like to imitate copy
others and try to be them I tried to be unique and different. I tend to do things my way and if I
dont think they are right I just wont do them at all.
Anywhere you go you could easily find me because I am very short and skinny. I have a
personality that anyone will not understand I tend to be happy and all of a sudden I am angry I
tend to change my moods a lot. I love where I come from I am very proud to be Mexican
American I give thanks to my parents for doing all the sacrifice they did to cross the border and
come to the US the way they did. If it was it for them I would not be here and be the person I am
with a future and a loving family that I love and will always love.