Bringing Up Bebe

Bringing Up Bebe
by Pamela Druckerman

My friend Allie recommended this book to me when she was visiting Chicago this summer.
When Neal & I are with Allie & Joel, we discuss everything.  There's just nothing off limits.  It was only natural that during their visit, some of our conversation included my and Neal's experience of parenting Augy so far and what that transition has been like for us.

Through the course of such conversations, Allie talked about reading this book Bringing Up Bebe and how it was such a fascinating read regarding how the French raise their children.
One of the things Allie told me that was of interest to me is how the French have one national approach to parenting, not a pool of options and theories and approaches and camps and books and "wars."
When I was pregnant, I read next to nil about pregnancy/children/parenting just to escape this overwhelming pool of information-overload, so the French way of "one way" sounded interesting (appealing?) to me.

And that is just the beginning.  Delving into Bringing Up Bebe was profoundly interesting and satisfying for my curious soul regarding all things anthropological.

The book is written by an American journalist who married a British man.  Together they moved to Paris where they started a family.  They noticed French families all around them appearing to have a very different-- namely calmer-- experience of parenting small children than they themselves were having, and so this book is a result of Druckerman's research via observation, interviews, and personal applications in the matter of French parenting.

It is such a blast to read.  I thought it was funny, witty, delightful.  Thought-provoking, sharp, and demonstrative of great research combined with great writing.  It's memoir-style, which I find accessible and enjoyable.

I promise you (most of you?) will find it interesting.  You don't need to be a parent by any means to enjoy this book, although if you are, I'm curious what you'll think of the French's parenting principles; I liked quite a few of them and am trying a few with Augy!