There’s something about the French that inspires Americans to make comparisons in which we inevitably come up lacking. Books about how to eat (and be thin) like a French woman and how to raise obedient, well-nourished and well-rested children like a French parent have become national bestsellers. It’s as though we’re all watching French people nonchalantly sip wine and eat baguettes (while their children sit politely and eat vegetables nearby) and wondering what exactly it is they have that we don’t.
Could we become as effortlessly elegant if we only knew their secret? The list of things that the French do better than us seems to have no end. They have better bread, cheese and produce, better fashion sense and better cosmetics, less stress and better health overall. American parents, on the other hand, are under such duress that the U.
S. surgeon general was inspired to issue an advisory statement regarding our mental health. Unlike our French counterparts, American parents are frazzled, sleep-deprived, cash-strapped and operating at the whims of our little dictators.
We’d do anything to catch a break. Some of the French advantage can be attributed to policies such as European Union bans on chemicals in food and other products (explaining some American parents’ penchant for feeding their babies European infant formula), universal health care, subsidized child care and paid parental leave (though it should be noted that France’s 16 weeks of paid maternity leave �.