"Well-behaved" French children

[Octaviapink]

It's interesting to read the Comments section - I was worried I'd be the only person disagreeing entirely with the French and their methods!
www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jan/11/french-children-food-pamela-druckerman-review?INTCMP=SRCH

"The French don't do indulgence either. Their children are trained to eat everything. No pandering to picky eaters. No children's menus in restaurants, and here is one four-course crèche menu: heart of palm and tomato salad, followed by turkey au basilica and rice in a provençal cream sauce, St Nectaire cheese with baguette, kiwi fruit."

There was a thread on this before - I will see if i can find a link.

I can't read the comments (on phone), but I'm afraid I fail to see your anger with the article. The way she reports the French are doing things is just common sense, n'est-ce pas?

I don't really see the majority of modern French parents in that. Apart from the food... Although there are kids menus round where I live.

My ds went to a french preschool and I met some French mothers. It seemed to me that they just were angsty about different things to us. For instance, one mother was happy to give her three year a dummy as he came out of class (something no Australian mother would do publicly) but wanted all the children to be made to wear bibs at lunch time to keep their clothes clean.

Oh gawd yes cleanliness and children ALWAYS looking perfect and never messy

Pretty accurate. The downside is they grow up too quickly and become quite judgemental

Am an expat and in most places i've lived, bullying is known to be rifr at the french lycee and only anecdotical in other international shools.
So obviously those kids do vent somewhere.

Hmm, doesn't describe the French parents/children I know at all! If anything, they are more helicopter-y.

"This article has been taken down on Thursday 12 January 2012 as it accidentally broke an agreed embargo. Apologies to the readers who commented, comments will be restored when the article is reinstated."

I read the article and the comments and intended to post about it as it strikes me as being BOLLOCKS. :)

I am English but am living in France, and have been with my French DP for 11 years. We have 2 DSs, have been through crèche, and l'école maternelle. Through our respective jobs we get to see hundreds of French families and I can confirm that French kids DO have tantrums, ARE also picky eaters, and ARE pretty much the same as British children in every respect.

I don't know from which orifice this woman pulled her book from, but I can hasard a guess, and I definitely won't be reading it!

I think it's another case of the French being congratulated on something which isn't at all widespread in France, and which also happens elsewhere, though not invariably. We had a running joke about French Women Don't Get Fat - as we walked the streets of Rouen, we decided that many Belgians must be in town for the day.

[Puffs out chest...] I've actually been congratulated MANY times by the French themselves on my children's politesse in restaurants, and sometimes asked for advice on how to achieve it. The dumbo in the Times with the toddler who misbehaved in the restaurant made me want to pull my hair out. She could have brought a book to read aloud, or a small toy, or a drawing pad and crayons, or all of the above. Why were the salt cellar and the packets of sugar within the child's reach? (And don't even get me started on the people who take three kids onto an eleven-hour flight without giving a moment's thought to how they will keep them entertained. No, the seatback entz WON'T DO IT.) IN other words most behaviour meltdowns are due to bad planning.

Should I publish a nice arrogant bossypants book called People with Half a Brain have Well-Behaved Children?

Oh. Thought not.

Oh, and what's with the agreed embargo? MNHQ? If I subscribe fair and square to the Times, why can I not comment?

Bugger. Can't read the article.

I like the French. I love France. But ime French children can be very precocious.

What i do think we can learn from them is how it's not frowned upon to take their children out for meals/ to bars in the evening. Their establishments (and people for that matter) are generally more child friendly and i love the cafe culture which means people are not afraid to take their children out with them in the evenings. Maybe on the whole their children are less fussy eaters because they spend a lot of time eating with their families since much of their culture is extremely positive about eating food socially.

Lots of families I know seem to do separate meals for children and adults. Probably because most English children have early bedtimes. I have some Greek family and the children seem to be less fussy eaters but they also eat with their parents and go to sleep later.

Sieglinde I actually think you should write that book. I seriously do. Want a co-author?

Sieglinde-I would buy it!

I think it was true of my generation (brought up in France in the 80s) - not quite sure it is still the case nowadays.
My parents certainly took no hostage when it came to discipline and behaving "in public" and my friends' parents were very much the same.

but that's probably no different from British upbringing in the 80s? [my english DH seems to have been brought up in a similar environment]

Wow, I have two customers! ? Can't believe it. Pointy, I'd love a coauthor. :)