On to something?

I found myself at a dinner with an old friend last weekend. He asked me if I had seen the French response to the Tiger Mom parenting nonsense. (I thought it was nonsense...)

Anyway, apparently, I think it was the Sunday NY Times ran this article about child raising differences between French parents and American parents. I am solidly in the American parents category.

In a nutshell, they talk about the idea of "no" meaning "no" and following through. Not fighting...just parenting with logical consequences.

Lately, it has seemed like the inmates are running the asylum around here, and I. Don't. Like. It.

The kids have been fighting with each other a lot. They want what they want, exactly when they want it, and I feel like I'm just not doing a good enough job at setting boundaries. I want them to be happy children, but that doesn't mean they are in charge, or that I cater to their every need.

It just seems somewhere along the line...the line was blurred between who was the parent, and who was the child. I'm trying very hard to get it back...calmly...by setting small consequences that I can follow through on immediately.

I can just hear my mom's "I told you so"...seems she's been lecturing me on this from the beginning. If she had just published an article in the Sunday NY Times, maybe I would have heard her;P

4 comments

  1. Amen....
    I was shown the same article and was planning to send you a copy. Thank your friend for telling you about it.

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  2. I think French kids drink wine too. That probably helps their good listening skills.

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  3. Keep a Nerf Gun handy. When they fight? Shoot 'em. They can't fight if they're laughing.

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  4. One of our girls could be French. The other is definitely American, although I blame this in part on her twin. Whenever she annoys her twin I'll say, "You created this problem by always giving in to her." It's also my reminder not to always give in to them. It's hard, though.

    I heard the article's writer interviewed on CNN recently. She went to great lengths to explain she wasn't saying French parents are better, only that we could learn something from them. I think she probably received a lot of backlash for suggesting that American parents needed some guidance.

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