Pages: 263
Rating: PG
Summary:
When American journalist Pamela Druckerman had a baby in Paris, she didn't aspire to become a "French parent." But she noticed that French children slept through the night by two or three months old. They ate braised leeks. They played by themselves while their parents sipped coffee. And yet French kids were still boisterous, curious, and creative. Why? How?
With a notebook stashed in her diaper bag, Druckerman set out to investigate—and wound up sparking a national debate on parenting. Researched over three years and written in her warm, funny voice, Bringing Up Bébé is deeply wise, charmingly told, and destined to become a classic resource for American parents
My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this book! It's a fun, easy read, relatable, and super interesting. I felt like Druckerman did a really good job of bringing out the good in French parenting, but not acting like French parents are all-around completely superior. There were a number of things that the French are not so good at - for example, it's almost unheard of for a baby to still be breastfeeding past the age of about 3 months in France. Despite all the sound research on the benefits of breastfeeding, the French still view it as something only the peasants do, and completely unnecessary for their children. If you go to the doctor with a complain of cracked nipples or clogged ducts, he's most likely to advise you to switch to formula. There are other things the French aren't as great at, and that's ok. No society has perfected parenting (at least, not that I know of).
However, I really got a lot of great little gems out of this book, particularly the part about how French babies are almost universally sleeping through the night by 3 months (and how they manage that). I also really loved the part about how French parents see the wisdom in separating yourself from your children a little bit, and mom's feel no guilt whatsoever about taking time for themselves and to improve their relationship with their significant other. They are unapologetic about needing "adult time."
I also loved the ideas presented about how to get kids to eat just about anything (as French kids do) and how to set firm, loving limits, and stick to them, while allowing a large amount of freedom within those limits. There are a lot of good, basic, parenting strategies in this book and I loved reading about them.
As with all parenting books, you take what you like and leave the rest, and I didn't feel as if Druckerman was trying to argue persuasively that we all need to be more French in our parenting in every single way. She herself has not fully adopted every aspect of French parenting, which I see as a good thing. But I really loved the way the ideas were presented and I'm adding a few of them to my personal parenting toolbelt.
One of my personal favorites is that the French view "discipline" as not a punishment/reward type system, but more like an education. They always say that they are teaching the child, educating him on what is proper and what is not. Being in this mindset of "they don't know any better, they need to be taught" has helped me be more patient with little problems. Kids are like aliens. They don't come into this world automatically understanding the world and how it works. We have to teach them. I think that's my biggest takeaway.
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