Bringing Up Bébé
One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting
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4.3 • 22 Ratings
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
The runaway New York Times bestseller that shows American parents the secrets behind France's amazingly well-behaved children.
*This edition also includes Bébé Day by Day: 100 Keys to French Parenting
“On questions of how to live, the French never disappoint. . . . Maybe it all starts with childhood. That is the conclusion that readers may draw from Bringing Up Bébé.” —The Wall Street Journal
“I’ve been a parent now for more than eight years, and—confession—I’ve never actually made it all the way through a parenting book. But I found Bringing Up Bébé to be irresistible.” —Slate
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Living in Paris has allowed American journalist Druckerman (Lust in Translation) a riveting glimpse into a calmer, rational, sage way of raising children. With three children of her own, all born in Paris and happily bilingual, Druckerman wanted to find the key to forging the well-behaved youngsters she witnessed in parks and restaurants infants who sleep through the night at two months, children with table manners, who don't interrupt adults or eat between meals. It starts, apparently, with calm, sensible French mothers, who don't become enormously self-indulgent during pregnancy, but quickly lose the baby fat after birth and rarely breast feed. The French health system helps by its generous maternal and child-care policies. Babies are treated as rational creatures, expected to "self-distract" in order to fall asleep (Druckerman calls the essential lapse in response time "La Pause"), and wait to eat when everybody else has their meals, four times a day, including the 4 p.m. sweet time called le gouter. Instead of rushing to satisfy or stimulate a child la Americain, the French are keen on aiding kids to discover on their own, developing autonomy with the help of a cadre, or frame, which is firm but flexible. Citing Rousseau, Piaget, and Fran oise Dolto, as well as scores of other parents, Anglophone or French, Druckerman draws compelling social comparisons, some dubious (e.g., Frenchwomen, unlike Americans, don't expect their husbands to help much with housework, thus eliminating "tension and resentment"), others helpful (insisting that children try new foods at each meal to broaden their palates), but she is ever engaging and lively to read.
Customer Reviews
Great advice for new parents
I picked it up years before I had a child. I like the story telling elements and the comparisons. I also enjoy that it wasn’t, everyone who isn’t French is wrong. It’s, these are common problems we have and this is how French parents, on average, avoid them or deal with them, and some tidbits about the culture that shaped those choices. It doesn’t feel like, if you don’t do these your a terrible parent, just antidotes. This a funny thing that happened to us and how and why the French do or have this belief. Take the advice we were given or don’t, do what feels right for you.
So when I had a baby I picked up a copy. People are alway surprised that the baby has more or less slept through the night since she was about six months old. Bed at 7, snack and change at 11, and then wake up about 6 am. Until she was about 9 - 12 months, now it’s bed at seven and we don’t see her and hardly hear a peep until 7 am unless something is wrong. Sometimes you can wake up and hear her playing but soon she settles back down without needing someone to put her back to sleep.
Plus she eats everything. I’m a terribly picky eater and I hate it. So when she started rejecting certain foods as they were first introduced I just kept them in rotation like the book suggested and she came around. Even eats raw onions and potatoes.
Although I don’t think the yogurt cake recipe is correct. Four containers made the mix like cement but it didn’t harder after all. Next week, I’ll keep the ratio of 2:2:2 yogurt, sugar, flour and see how it turns out.
A must!
I honestly don't need to read any other parenting books after this one. Gives you the basic and then ... you use your judgment !