It seems that the WSJ is anti-American [parents]. After the much maligned article Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior, now we learn Why French Parents Are Superior. The funny thing is, something in the latter rang true to me (at least based on recent experiences). It almost makes me want to have kids just to find out how I would be.
I found that article interesting, especially as an American parent. As I thought about it more, it bothered me more. (I guess it’s saying something that I kept thinking about it, which I think was really more of the author’s objective than anything else.) I agree with her overall diagnosis of American parents, but really, that argument has been hashed out time and again. And oddly, I think the piece is written from the perspective of an American parent–I’ve become very tired of these articles by moms talking about how tiring or difficult parenting is. It’s almost as if in the same breath of them saying that they are sick of all of the navel-gazing, they themselves revert to navel-gazing. The whole article is written from a parent’s perspective: parenting would be a lot easier for me if I would just feel differently. There’s nothing in there about whether these techniques are actually helpful to the kids themselves or even whether the qualities she attributes to the difference actually constitute the difference. (It’s an interesting question as to how not paying for child care affects parenting, but she doesn’t really show any evidence that it does. She just points out that French moms don’t have to worry about child care.) I find all of this especially interesting in light of recent concerns about teen French drinking (http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/12/12/143521104/french-lessons-why-letting-kids-drink-at-home-isn-t-tres-bien). I think I’d find the “cultural difference” argument more compelling if it was clearer how she determined which variables mattered and how they mattered. (Did they make child-rearing easier for parents or did they produce better kids?) It’s strange because on the whole I agree with her observation about the problems with contemporary parenting. But I don’t think it requires living in France specifically to decide that “adult time” isn’t a bad thing and that we shouldn’t let our kids snack all day or speak to them in un-firm tones.
elizabeth, agreed, her writing is wholly anecdotal, not scientific by any stretch of the imagination. I linked to it partly because my partner is French, and we often talk about the cultural differences between the US and France. So it’s amusing to me to read other people doing it.