The increased exodus of more than one million Ecuadorians in the last decade means greater numbers of families and parents are separated from their loved ones and children. From oral life history interviews with sons, the authors address research on children who stay behind by focusing on the discourse of legitimation that sons of migrant Ecuadorian parents residing in Spain internalize and/or challenge. Utilizing critical discourse analysis (CDA) and more specifically Van Leeuwen’s legitimation strategies framework, the authors argue that while reproducing and rationalizing familial discourses of sacrifice and well-being, these young men’s narratives simultaneously express the language of loss and suffering.