Je m'appelle Traci

In high school I cheated my way through two years of French thanks to my good friend Jen.  Our teacher inexplicably hated me.  But now that I look back on it her ex-husband, also a teacher at our school, used to hit on me in the weight room.  As a high school girl I guess I was a little oblivious =)

Anyway, I'm currently obsessed with reading Bringing Up BeBe by Pamela Duckerman.  Pamela is a native New Yorker who found herself living and raising her children in Paris.  The book provides insight into the differences between the French and American way of parenting.  She observed that French kids were overall more well behaved than American kids.  They sit patiently in restaurants, eat a wide variety of foods and meals in courses, acknowledge adults politely, and even have more respect for authority.  Of course kids will be kids but overall this seemed to be the case.  She also observed that French mothers seemed more at ease and put together compared to the disheveled American mother stereotype.  I love this book!   I can't get enough!  And honestly it just sounds like a lot of common sense.  I can't say that it'll become my parenting bible but I'm definitely going to give some of the strategies a go.