Family literacy programs promote certain ideas about literacy and parenting. This study examined how Mexican immigrant women in a family literacy program used mainstream ideas, or discourses, of mothering and parent involvement in education to pursue their own personal and academic goals. The findings revealed that women were at times faced with the dilemma of choosing between Mexican ideas about mothering and those embedded in the family literacy program. However, they also used family literacy discourses to justify their educational pursuits, gain power and prestige in their nuclear and extended families, work toward more equitable gender relationships in the home, set goals, expand their identity, and participate in mainstream society. Furthermore, participation in family literacy classes helped to support their children's academic success. Lastly, participants combined U.S. and Mexican discourses to reflect their ideas of good mothering and demonstrate their mothering abilities.