BRINGING UP BEBE

by Pamela Druckerman
 
Content Warning: This is a parenting book!  So if your children are well and truly raised, enjoy your empty nest and skip this review!
 
I read this book before my daughter Charlotte was born, and it was and remains one of my top two favorite books on parenting.  I know I enjoyed it in part because there is a narrative.  Rather than being an endless list of charts and data, Druckerman tells her own story about raising her three children.  But she is a journalist, and so she supplements her experience with interviews and data, and even a few charts!
 
Drukerman is American, married to a Brit, and they chose to raise their children in Paris.  This book explores the differences between parenting in the U.S. and France, and there are definitely a few things we Americans could stand to emulate.  The most interesting chapters to me were about sleep and food, and both were more about mindset as parents than any prescriptive how-tos.
 
If I try to boil down her larger philosophy, I guess it would be something like: Teach your children to be a part of your family from the beginning.  You have your routines, schedules, likes and dislikes, and they will fit into that.  Don’t change everything about your life because of this new little person.  Obviously that comes with a million caveats, and in a way, everything does change, but I have found this philosophy comforting to think about (for the whole six months I have been doing this).  So Charlotte's first foods were the ones we eat the most ourselves, and her feeding and sleep schedules are close to what they will be as an older child.
 
Obviously different books speak to different parents, just as different novels do, but I highly recommend this one to any new parents.  It’s a fun, fast read, and it just might help you feel a little bit more relaxed! (Lily)