Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Bringing Up Bebe by Pamela Druckerman

Bringing Up Bebe: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting

I found this book to be intriguing and interesting. Pamela,an American writer now living in France, shares the differences between the American and French views on pregnancy, child birth and child rearing. I wish that the US had such high quality subsidized child care and nutritious school lunches as the French do. I am impressed with the French attitudes about paretnal authority and children's autonomy. I really liked the parts about food and helping children to learn to enjoy a variety of foods and not be picky eaters.

As a mother of 3 children, and a teacher, I find it fascinating to learn about the culturally different attitutdes about child development.


Some of the "French" attitudes about children are similar to what is mentioned in the book Free-Range Kids - that children can and should learn to be autonomous and responsible for their own actions.  I think that we could learn a few things from the French about that.  Other things, like the fact that breastfeeding is not seen as important and is discouraged in France, I disagreed with.

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