To think French children fell out of the arse of Starship Perfection?

[dontlaugh]

First we were told they don't throw food, now today in the Sunday Times we are told they eat every morsel put in front of them. Should I move to France?

Depends how hungry they are first, does it count if they are starved ;)

Oh bullshit. They are children. None of them doing everything all the time.

We had two French children staying with us over Easter. They were extremely fussy and wouldn't even drink milk without chocolate powder in it. We made them loads of stuff which went untouched (DH is very good cook). The parents couldn't even suggest anything they'd like as they were just so fussy and would only eat cake. I told my friend about "French Children Don't Throw Food". She just laughed as her two can be just as naughty and difficult as any English children. She works in a nursery in France and says the general standard of behaviour is pretty poor...

We're just back from France, and have a French Au pair, so I suppose I've seen them in the flesh, if that counts as met? Everyone did seem v well behaved. Is it just a literary fad that they are being held up as the ideal? My own are well behaved etc but haven't managed to attract an agent yet. What to do?

I'll join you looking for an agent, the fees would less of we split them, don't laugh!

I have to say I was distinctly unimpressed with the whole Sunday Times magazine offerings this week - trite, cliched, trying-too-hard to be witty/quirky/stylish and failing on every front

dontlaugh - that article just summed it all up; how could they make such ridiculous generalisations? Poor-quality journalism

We don't normally take the ST. It got me a bit riled.

Children are children no matter where they are from IME. I think we are conditioned to envy everything French. Women are thinner, children better behaved, produce better (now that is true!) etc.

I think the main difference between the UK and France is that the UK is always putting itself down. We look on the negatives a lot and never at the positives.

DH's cousin lives in Paris. Her children are lovely, but just as fussy as any others. For example, DS (4) loves mussels but his French relatives won't touch them.

What children need is variety to different foods and where eating out is concerned, practice. That also goes for sitting at the table. You wouldn't expect a child to know how to cross a road safely without teaching them would you? Same for everything else imo.

When we go to France to stay with in laws, we tend not to eat dinner until around 10pm. The children are fucking starving.

DP insists he was brought up on French fish fingers and overcooked pasta

I don't envy the French. Didn't know I was suppose to.

Of course, that would be another generalisation, that we are 'conditioned' to do so.

What a lot of bullshit all the way around.

IME, the average French child is probably a bit less fussy than their Brit counterpart, partly because they are exposed to a wider range of dishes and foods in school canteens (packed lunches not an option).

But they are hardly the paragons of gastronomic virtue they are portrayed to be in the UK press.

Once read an essay from a pupil who had been to France on an exchange. She was really upset as they had fed her the local delicacy "Crap". Turned out she was fed Carp and it was her dyslexia at work. Surely, like here, there are some that eat things and some that don't?

I know lovely French kids and completely brattish ones and the same goes for British, German, American, Dutch, South African and Spanish...... Kids can be all sorts & types just as adults can be and generalised stereotypes in articles and books are usually picking a few and generalising about them to prove a predetermined point

The problem with all these articles about the French is that they are only referring to white middle-class Parisians.

If they ventured into the hinterland, they would see the same range of men, women and children as here.

When I was a little girl, I was unfortunately fussy. Did my parents indulge me ? Nope...If I didn't like something I was forced to stay at the table until my plate was finished...What I hated much was pork shop with petits pois...and they quite often did it on sunday lunch. I remember staying at the table until 3 pm just to finish this. And yes I'm French.
Now, I try to be more patient with my dcs and I don't force them to finish their plates, I just make sure they eat enough and if I know they really don't like something I don't cook it !

The things I was forced to eat when I was a child like : Beef tongue, liver, lamb brain...

@ 'wouldn't even drink milk without chocolate powder in it'

bloody kids all over the world, given the choice continentals

The only French children I have met have been extremely pandered to, regarding food, IMO.

My friend has just had a French 14yo exchange student. He ate nothing but chocolate biscuits for the week. They were very worried about him even taking him food shopping so he could chose whatever he wanted.

He chose a lot of biscuits.

14yr old in 'only chooses chocolate biscuits' shocker

UnChartered - I take your point but I was referring to 2 specific children that I know pretty well to show that not all French children are paragons of good eating. I was not generalising about the French.

ok

but come on, 2 DCs hardly a representation

I live here and can confirm that they can be just as difficult and fussy as English children and I'm so fed up of these books setting up French children as paragons. I can guarantee that my children eat more diversely than my neighbour who won't touch anything spicy or cucumbers(the french seem to have a thing against cucumbers) or cinammon. Mine on the other hand love a good curry. I do however think that on the whole they are quite good at getting small children to sit at their places in restaurants - something I never personally managed.

'we don't normally take the ST'

Yes... French children are lovely. You only have to see the Yoplait advert for that. They're uniformly beautiful and very well behaved...

Interestingly - Sunday Times article not in the international version sold here!