Raúl De Molina is a multiple Emmy award-winning co-host of the Univision entertainment news show El Gordo y la Flaca. When he’s not on camera, he’s trying to keep up with his 16-year-old daughter, Mia. We sat down with De Molina to hear about the trials and triumphs of raising a teenage daughter.
Raúl De Molina: Daughter Mia and Raising Teens
Q: What are some of the challenges of having an independent 16-year-old daughter?
De Molina: Mia is 16, and like many kids her age, all she wants to do is drive around. She is always asking to take the car, saying she needs to drive. She goes out all the time with her friends on the weekend, until her curfew at 11 p.m. She’s also gotten a few tickets. So this is really difficult for me. I wait up to see when Mia is going to come home. She is out too late, and I call, and she tells me all the things that are going on and that she’s at her friend’s house and on her way home now, and I say, “Mia, I am taking the car away next week.”
Q: Do you have a curfew?
De Molina: We have an 11 p.m. curfew unless she has a special occasion like a concert. And I always wait up until she comes home. Miami is one of the most beautiful cities in the United States and I wouldn’t change it for anything. I mean, I love this city. But it is difficult to raise a kid here. It’s completely different than anywhere else.
Q: Does she want to be on camera like you?
De Molina: She did a show on Univision and it went very well. Her first paying job was in Italy, and she loved that. She did five or six episodes. If Mia were to do a show, she would like to do a reality TV show with her friends. But she doesn’t really love to be on TV. And now she thinks she wants to go to business school.
Q: Do you try to raise your daughter similarly to how your parents raised you?
De Molina: I grew up with my mother alone. My father was put into prison by Fidel Castro when I was born. I never got to see him until I was in my 30s. My wife and I try to spend as much time as we can with our daughter. On Fridays and Saturdays, she mostly goes out with her friends. She goes out a lot and travels a lot. But Sunday is family day. Sunday she spends here with us.
Q: What is the hardest part about raising a teenager?
De Molina: They think they know more than you. Whatever you think, it isn’t that way, it’s this way. It is either their way or no way. They know more than me, my wife, their grandmother and all that. So that is very difficult.
