(Photo by Kevin Dooley on Flickr)
I didn't even bother reading all the way through this article about why French parents are better, because I can already tell you a) it's true and b) why it's true.
Basically, anyone is better at parenting than American helicopter parents. What about obsessing over kids, overscheduling them, overindulging them, and basically raising them to think they're the center of the universe could possibly create happy, well-behaved, reslilient, adults who are able to be productive and contribute to society while realizing that life isn't fair and that's just the way it is so make the best of it? Nothing.
French parents don't make their kids the center of their lives, and that's why they're better parents and the kids are better behaved. They care about the quality of their own lives and aspire to raise kids who are part of that life, but not the center of it. The same way they savor food and mealtimes and are, therefore, not obese like Americans who make their lives living hell by overscheduling and overworking and reduce mealtimes to hurried fuel-ups before the next round of activities. Americans fret that their kids are out of control and don't sleep through the night and have tantrums and aren't patient--yet look at the lives our kids lead. Who could sleep or concentrate or be on an even keel when life is a non-stop blur of playdates and activities and sports and computer games--educational ones, of course, because nothing is worth doing if it's not educational or related to achieving academic excellence? I'm an adult and watching these kids lives makes me tired. Living my kids lives makes me tired, and they're teenagers and I'm not a helicopter parent.
We also obsess over this parenting thing way too much. Witness last year's bestseller Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, and now what is sure to become a bestseller Bringing Up Bebe: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting. We drive ourselves crazy striving for perfection as parents, pouring over books like these as if they contain the fomula for achiving parenting perfection so both we and our kids can get the gold star.
I don't need to read a book about why French parents are better; one look at French people says it all: they take care of themselves and enjoy life, and they don't let having kids ruin those things by taking over every aspect of their lives. Oh, and also, they let their kids drink wine.
