Bringing Up Bebe by Pamela Druckerman Book Review

Bringing Up Bebe

Bringing Up Bebe
By Pameal Druckerman

I’m currently listening to Bringing Up Bebe on my commutes into work. I’ve been curious about the book ever since its release but decided I missed the boat, as my kids were already born. But to satisfy my occasional Francophile itch (my copy of Amalie is MIA) I grabbed the audiobook from the library and popped it in. And I’m happy I did.

My conclusion: Parisian mothers don’t have it all worked out (glad to affirm that we’re all floundering) but they view some parenting concepts in much different ways.

For instance, they embrace day care – mostly because it’s government subsidized and the care givers are practically pediatricians. They often say “the perfect mother doesn’t exist.” And they don’t believe in over-scheduling children but allowing them freedom to discover on their own, or “awaken.” Independent play is hugely important. Their kids sleep through the night at 3 months (mine did too) and are good eaters – though I suspect the latter is due to those excellent day care chefs. Their two parenthood icons are 18th century philosopher Rousseau and a 20th century psychologist whose books have never been translated into English. Like a government secret. It’s all very fascinating.

But Parisians have seemed to figure out how to stay true to themselves and not fold into the “I am a mother now” trap that I’ve seen some women do – forgetting all about their lives pre-child, as if they never had any true interests until baby came along and they could expound on the merits of warm wipes and PBS programming.  And going back to work is the norm in Paris (though, it IS the most expensive city in Europe). The author gave an example that, at dinner parties, if a stranger knew she had kids, they’d still ask “what do you do?” Where here, it’s always assumed I stay home with the kids. Always.

And I’ve been a Mom in Paris. Sure, for four glorious days, but I hit every playground we passed, had lunch in cafes and walked the streets with the kids like other mothers and children -- so I have a tiny bit of experience to pull from. The BEST was when the author mentioned the antique carousel by the Eiffel Tower. We went there, too!  

Lastly, I've always fantasied about raising kids in a different country, so hearing her experience has allowed me to live vicariously. There are plenty ups and downs of Americans raising little Parisians.

Overall, I’m glad I read/heard this book after a few years of parenting experience because I might not have been able to identify with everything being shared. The author is, after all, a seasoned journalist who did research and countless interviews. So it’s more of an anthropological study from which I can glean ideas or concepts with more care. Pre-kids, I might not have fully understood what was wise and what was plain unrealistic.

I wonder if there’s a raising kids in Spain book, too?  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Behold! Everard Blue!

Image
Here's the After picture of our master bedroom now that the walls are a dark and moody blue. Maybe the best part is I was at work while the painters were here, so I walked in and found -- as if by magic -- the room no longer minty green but a bold blue. That's pretty awesome. They also painted the trim an eye-popping white, which I just love against this blue. And the angle is a dark beige-y, tan color that I hope goes with the headboard. I spent the evening cleaning and re-hanging the drapes, and moving the furniture back into position. It will be a while before I dare hang anything in here. I'm too in love with the walls to put too many holes in them right now. So, just in case I'm looking for this information later: The walls are "Everard Blue" by Benjamin Moore . And the tray is "Curly Willow" by Behr . Now, does that furniture look too dark against the walls or is it just me? And wouldn't a lighter wood or white look fabulous agains
Keep reading »

Family Calendar Improvement

Image
 Made a quick improvement at the start of the school year that I'm pretty excited about.  And yes, I'm probably the only one excited about it, but here goes ...  Here's our "command central" in our kitchen. This is a good landing spot, and a central place to all look at the family calendar ... it's that huge wipe board in the middle of the photo. All our activities are supposed to be written on here and our electronic family calendar on Google.  (Brief aside: my family is the WORST at writing their plans down in either calendar and Dave still doesn't share his events on our Google Shared Family Calendar consistently, which makes me nuts. And they all ask me "what are we doing today?" instead of looking at the calendar, usually directly behind me. But, that's another post.) I went to so much trouble putting this little area together and that huge calendar with wobbly writing was really killing the sophisticated look of that space. PLUS, we don
Keep reading »

Basement Shiplap Project

Image
The guys left me all the unused shiplap from the bathroom and I've been trying to think about where to use it. I had so many ideas but not a lot of shiplap, so I eventually settled on this corner of our basement. It's where the exercise mats and treadmill live, right behind the sofa. And also where the Marvel-themed bathroom with shiplap is located. So it made sense. It took much of a rainy Sunday to cut and nail up the new boards ...    I even had enough to do on the "backsplash" of our little kitchenette in the basement I've been slowly building out.  Next up will be to patch all the nail holes and calk around the edges for a clean look. And then the best part ... picking out paint color. Since this is a "free" project, I'm hoping I can find a color in my paint cabinet.  I'll keep you posted. 
Keep reading »