French children do not spit food, and French mothers are always slim, calm, and smart. Quartz columnist Jenny Anderson understands how they do it.
The world has long been plagued by envy of the French.
It seems that everyone else can't look as fresh, dress as stylishly and be as impeccable, without making any special effort.
A woman in France is in a unique position, especially now that the French have elected president, with attention and respect for a woman who respects women for their bright personality, and not for appearance.
Let us also take studies of manufacturers of baby food: according to them, French mothers are the largest consumers of this food in Western Europe.
While the Danes have to invent various tricks like weekends at the hotel so that their citizens give birth to children, French women easily and naturally give birth to two.
The more French women have children, the better she copes with them.
She is always calm, slender, and looks rested. Her children calmly manage gourmet dishes, sitting at the restaurant table without any cartoons; they don't eat chips and do not have tantrums.
It seems that the secret of all this lies in certain cultural features that any woman could comprehend if they were available to her.
In reality, we can shove this haute cuisine into our children as much as possible or learn to enjoy life. But we won't achieve such an effect - simply because we don't have all the support that French women have.
So before trying to adopt the French parenting style, let's admit this:
French women have excellent birth allowances
They have four fully paid months of maternity leave (and for three children, this is six months). Also, they receive excellent state benefits, calculated on the fact that a woman will not have to lower her standard of living with the advent of her child.
For example, if they want to hire a nanny, they can afford it.
France has a cheap and good kindergarten system
Here you can send the child to a good nursery from 1.5 months of age - if you need to return to work.
Moreover, the payment is taken from each family is different - depending on their official income.
No one will pay more than he can afford.
And the essential thing: nursery and kindergarten employees are paid very well. Therefore there is no staff turnover, and they are responsible for their work.
French schools and kindergartens have delicious food
Breakfasts and lunches for children are prepared by real professional chefs, so that parents can not worry about healthy eating, as well as not give food from home with them.
Instead of pretty pasta cutlets diluted with bread, the children here eat a real three-course dinner. Moreover, they are specially trained to try new food so that they do not get hung up on just one thing.
A typical Tuesday menu: freshly baked bread, cucumber salad with cream dressing, veal with olives and broccoli, goat cheese, semolina pudding with caramel.
They go to school here from the age of three.
Moreover, the school does not end at 3 pm. And you can stay there until 16:30, or even until 18:30.
Any family can afford to pay for such an extension. For example, in Normandy schools, such an extension costs about 1000 rubles a month.
Compare what is at the same time, for example, American or Russian parents.
They have to choose - either you pay a lot of money to the nanny, or you give the child to the state garden, where the conditions are not always perfect, or you get out with the help of relatives and friends.
But you still need to pay bills and insurance (and the most basic one), save money for a future university, and all this with almost no vacation.
Yes, we often put up with all this pressure and the high cost of life, trying to take at least something under control. We'll think up how to conveniently put Lego into boxes and write down a three-year plan for whatever classes.
But the truth is that if you are sure that your child is in a pleasant garden or school with responsible teachers and wholesome food, you can pay for this garden or school. And you can even afford a good vacation and weekend for the rest of the money - here what relaxes.
The French education system is not perfect. Andreas Schleicher, head of the Department of Education of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, says: no study confirms that early development is more beneficial for the child than free play (as, for example, this is done in Finland).
France, he notes, doesn't pass the PISA brilliantly, a test given to 15-year-old students around the world to test their critical thinking.
Also, the French education system is considered one of the toughest in the world.
But the opportunity to pay for good schools is a lot — both for parents and for the government.
Indeed, if a woman can quickly go to work and continue to earn money without lowering her usual standard of living, then she will not be afraid to give birth to children.
So the necessary balance of young and efficient taxpayers in the country will be maintained.
So before admiring French women, you first need to respect their government, which gives them time and energy to quietly go to work, to the gym, to the beauty salon, and to support the myth of ideal French women.
