In an old house in Paris that was covered in vines, lived twelve little girls in two straight lines

Last week the hubbs found this article about French parenting.  It had some good advice (it actually prompted us to finally undo one of our secret shames and get rid of the milk that she takes to bed with her in hopes that she'll actually eat real food).  

Even though I did glean some good advice from the article I feel like I should also say that when I read it I thought, "oh great.  There's a whole nation of toddlers who are better behaved than mine is."

So, to make myself feel better I would like to point out a couple of discrepancies with the article and actual French practice. A couple of my very clever girlfriends pointed out that maybe the reason French parents are so worried about their kids playing alone is because they only have one kid a piece and if that kid doesn't play alone they'll be stuck playing kid games all day long.

Something else to consider about the French.  They send their kids to school full-time starting at age 3. I'm not sure we can give them all the credit for their well behaved toddlers as their toddlers are in school for a large portion of the day. 

And...if you're as obsessed with Downton Abbey as I am you should read this article that shows pictures of our favorite characters on and off screen.