This paper explores the beliefs and practices of mothering amongst a group of highly educated Colombian mothers living across the United States and their mothers in Colombia. I use the framework of transnationalism as a methodological and conceptual lens from which to understand the creation of identities and processes of cultural production. Using a multigenerational and multi-sited research approach I conducted in-depth interviews with 33 transnational mothers and 12 of their Colombian mothers. Participants spoke about their maternal experience in relation to their own histories as children growing up in different areas of Colombia. Normative family arrangements and social expectations of parenting (which include discipline and dependence) are either challenged or maintained in light of migration and generational change. This paper discusses how practices and beliefs are embedded in ideological constructions and relations of power which I contextualize in the Colombian and U.S contexts. Their narratives contribute to our understanding of the diversity of immigrant mother’s lives, their impact on non-migrant communities, and transnational mothers’ potential to reproduce social inequalities or to create positive cultural change.