Sunday, July 09, 2017

Bringing Up Bebe by Pamela Druckerman

I've been reading this book about the wisdom of French parenting and there are definitely some ideas to adopt. French parents seem to actually believe in the role of parent, rather than the American iteration of playmate or servant. They When they are with their children, they seem to be passing a long values important to their culture without smothering any sense of independence. I admire their firmness. I think the fact that in general they don't over-praise children is a good thing.

However, a great portion of the book is dedicated to singing the praises of government funded early childcare which is essentially to have the state raise children from about two months. I don't want to get too far into my views on this from a family perspective because it would be interminable. But, I will say this, "Who is going to care about your child more than you?"

Bills pushing more and more state funded early childhood education come up every session in Utah. Those who are interested might read this book praising the French state and read it carefully. One thing you won't find... any discussion of cost. In any discussion of what services government should or should not provide one most important truth should be remembered and that is: Government can give nothing it hasn't first confiscated from someone else first. Whether or not they can afford it, whether or not it's convenient, whether or not it's truly beneficial to families, whether or not it subverts goals that would better serve society is never considered or studied. 

Just like 
Obamacare made healthcare available to everyone at an incredible cost both in resources and liberty, everyone was given access to healthcare by the state.... except they weren't and healthcare is less accessible than ever. The same is true in France. If you read the book carefully then you know these public benefits are available to only a small portion of the public... "some pigs are more equal than others." Yet, France teeters on the brink of insolvency.

A viewpoint more inline with my own is this commentary written by an actual French parent entitled 4 Myths and One Truth About French Childcare