When we watch a magic trick there's always that expectation of effortless wonder. The magician waves the magic wand, a rabbit appears, and we just accept that the impossible happened. Without any real sweat or tears, it just works. That's also how our culture tends to view raising bilingual kids. We treat them like these magical little linguistic sponges. Just speak some Spanish or Mandarin around them, wave the magic wand, and boom - they just soak it up effortlessly. If onl