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I’m not one of those new parents who’s rushing out to read a bunch of parenting books, but this was given to me as a gift by a close friend who told me it gave her a path forward out of the trenches when she had a newborn, so of course I read it. It’s not a perfect book by far, but there is a lot of good stuff in here.

This book’s thesis — that NOT making your life 110% about your child and leaving space for you as a person — was extremely validating. Especially in the face of American parenting culture, which often looks more like martyrdom.  It validated a lot of my instincts that some people on the internet might have told me were selfish or wrong. The idea that it’s genuinely better for my child to learn how to wait rather than have her every need catered to or every word listened to absolutely immediately? So freeing.

The chapters on sleep were also interesting, especially because they aligned really nicely with everything my husband and I had already learned in the Taking Cara Babies newborn class (which I HIGHLY recommend).

(Finally, beware there is definitely some fatphobia here. I wasn’t a huge fan of the chapters that examined “bouncing back” culture. If you’re sensitive or vulnerable to that kind of thing, be advised.)

I heard about this book from someone I follow online and was immediately intrigued.
"Bringing Up Bebe" is a nonfiction book that follows one American journalist as she raises her children in France. Pamela's husband is Parisian, and the pair moved to France to begin their lives. After having her daughter, Pamela learned quickly that the French approach to parenting is entirely different compared to Americans. Motherhood itself is treated entirely differently as well. This book presents some of the highlights Pamela learned during her first few years of motherhood.
One of the topics that interested me the most in this book was the discussions on food. Children are not fed a different "kid friendly" diet, they are presented the same food their parents are eating, in the same way the adults are eating. If the child does not want to eat that item, they do not have to, but they will not be given a different food. I love this idea that there is one meal, and the family ALL eat together. I think this gives children the opportunity to explore better foods earlier on, and they develop into "better" eaters overall.
Another notable topic was the discussion surrounding sleep. French babies tend to sleep through the night by a few months old because their parents know how to read their cues. I am sure for a new parent it is hard at first to discern between different baby cries, but the French have mastered the art of knowing when a baby needs soothed back to sleep and when baby just woke up for a moment between sleep cycles.
One section that had me screaming "yes" was when the author was comparing French children specifically to New York City parenting in regard to tutors and after school activities. One French mother the author talked to pulled her child out of activities because it did not fit into her schedule, which is not uncommon. Something that has become very common in America is this idea of competitive parenting and constantly having your child tutored in obscure topics. A child only gets to be a child for a very short time, so shouldn't they just get to enjoy it?
I do not think there is one right way to parent, but I really resonated with this book and the ideals that French parenting presents.

A lot of the advice in this book is common sense and things I had already learned from my very non-French family. The only bits of information that struck me as uniquely French (or at least nothing I had heard from in my circle) were the toxic parts of French culture relating to intolerance of other kinds of peoples or parenting styles, the strange distaste for breastfeeding, the pressure for the mom to bounce back for the man in the relationship, and on a more positive note, the socialized health and childcare, which obviously makes parenting easier than it would be in the states. I wish Druckerman would have spent more time on these aspects on the culture. This was an interesting read, nonetheless.

I liked this better than most parenting books I’ve read. The author felt relatable, being a mother herself and filling the book with personal stories. She is an American mother raising her kids in France and this book is a comparison between American and French parenting. There were some interesting differences and several I would like to incorporate more into my own parenting style (promoting independent play, introducing variety of foods, and maintaining my own identity outside of motherhood).