Quotes from Catherine Crawford

When the French need a solution to a particular problem, they tend to consult one source, not fifteen different friends or chat-room chums. This has the effect of cutting down on anxiety—and does wonders for just about every aspect of parenting.

One French mom broke it down for me in simple terms: "Your job is not to be their friend. That does not work with children. You need to be their mom and teach them well. I would love to spend my day holding my child, but I know that is not good for him.

YOU ARE THE CHIEF.

In France, everyone in the family has a job. The parent's role is to be the chief, and the children have the job of obeying their leader. French children are raised with this in mind, so there is much less debate and resistance.

Incredibly, for an American mom used to fast-changing parenting trends, French child-rearing techniques didn't seem to have changed all that much over the years.

Because that is how we do it—we approach pregnancy like a job, gobbling up everything we can on the subject so that we are experts on every theory. And, as with most jobs, a certain amount of drudgery accrues. I have discovered that, in addition to ensuring mastery of these theories, this strategy to parenting also, unfortunately, results in utter confusion and frustration.

Maybe it is from all of the processed foods in this country, or maybe it is hormones, but something odd happens to the American brain when we start to breed, and our weakness for stuff, stuff, and more stuff gets further inflated.

Here in the United States, the words "sleep training" are as controversial and brimming with emotion as "breast-feeding." Or

Oona and Daphne had to figure out a way to adapt to the adult world, and not the other way around. This is an integral concept in French parenting.