Kids are not entitled to eat whatever and whenever they want. They are taught as soon as they are able to speak to politely greet people, reinforcing the fact that there are other humans who have a right to be acknowledged. The French have other strategies that make kids realize that the universe does not revolve solely around them.

After a brief feeding, she often falls back to sleep around 7 am and wakes up between 9 am and 10 am. She falls asleep for good between 10 pm and 11 pm and sleeps (almost completely) soundly until 5 am.

At only two months old, she's already learned to sleep through the night. So far, this strategy appears to be paying off. Then she would 'learn' that it's normal to wake up at 3 am. On the other hand, if I would pick her up, it would likely awaken her. And guess what? She goes right back to sleep within mere moments. A typical American parent might pick her up immediately. My little one lets out a bloodcurdling scream between 2 am and 3 am every night for absolutely no reason whatsoever. This subtle but crucial tactic is also deployed during the night when the baby should be sleeping. However, if she keeps crying, then the parents pick her up. If there's nothing really wrong, doing 'the pause' gives the baby a moment to self-soothe, a very important life skill. If a child is crying or fussing, parents pause a moment before responding. Your tiny little human needs to slowly realize that the universe does not revolve around him or her, and the French have various ways of introducing this concept to kids.įor example, French kids are taught patience from an extremely early age. The overriding principle of French parenting is that the baby fits into your life, not the other way around. So, she started researching French culture and discovered an entirely different parenting philosophy.Ī Lesson from France: The Universe Does Not Revolve Around You She quickly noticed how French children behaved very differently from her own.

It was a good decision.įor the uninitiated, Bringing Up Bébé was written by Pamela Druckerman, an American living in Paris. The book seemed to confirm all of our basic instincts about child rearing, and we decided this would be the one and only parenting book we would read. That's when we came across the book Bringing Up Bébé, an international bestseller that also goes by the title French Children Don't Throw Food. And the kids? Well, they are whiny little brats. Parents helicoptered over their kids, refused to let them go outside (as I did every single day as a child), and treated them like fragile snowflakes that could melt at any moment. So, how are my wife and I to raise this precious, little emerging threat? We saw how other people raised their kids and were horrified. And as Alexandre Dumas once said, 'It is rare that one can see in a little boy the promise of a man, but one can almost always see in a little girl the threat of a woman.' He's absolutely right.

Bringing Up Bébé by Pamela Druckerman