Can Money Replace a Mother's Physical Presence?

      Countless mothers living in Central America leave their home behind in order to provide their families with a more stable future.  These mothers use everything they have to go to the United States to lighten monetary concerns laden on their families.  While they are gone, however, mothers often lose the love of their children.  If a child is young when the mother leaves, he or she grows up with the burden of not having a mother figure close by.  Children like Enrique resort to violence when they cannot find the motherly love that they yearn for from other family members.  These mothers mean no harm when they leave; they only mean to help.  Nonetheless, the mothers do not understand that their children need a motherly figure above all else.  Those who end up rebellious and unhappy like Enrique would rather starve with their mothers than be well-fed without them.  Mothers, on the other hand, think that supporting their children with money is more important than physically nurturing them.  When Enrique tells his mother that she did not raise him, his mother says, "I sent money, I supported you.  That is raising you!" (Nazario 195).  This dispute between Enrique and Lourdes shows the difference in how children and adults think.  Children think with their emotions, while adults think more rationally.  Children believe they are being abandoned; Mothers believe they are doing what is best in the long run.  A child will hopefully understand his or her mother's decision eventually, but until then, he or she is distraught. Commenting on his mother's decision, Enrique opines, "Money doesn't solve anything," (197).  His opinion further exemplifies the disagreement between children and their mothers.  He would rather have the physical love of his mother than receive monetary support to improve his future.  He blames his mother's decision for the rebellion that controlled him: drugs, gangs, and violence.  With his mother's presence, he believes that his life would have been better.  In your opinion, can money replace a mother's physical presence in her child's life?  Do you agree with Lourdes's opinion or Enrique's?