Bringing up babies in various ways

Let me start with a disclaimer: I didn't write this to promote a book. I am not even an American mother. However, recently Pamela Druckerman, author of Bringing Up Bb, published an article in the Wall Street Journal saying French moms are superior because of their ability to cultivate such characteristics as discipline, patience, enjoyment and delayed satisfaction in their children.

As a Chinese parent bringing up two young children in the United States, I am always fascinated by such comparisons of parenting. I am also driven to study other parenting methods by self-doubt: am I doing the right thing for my two kids? Such doubt, unless carried to the extreme, ought to be healthy. What do we know about the complex process of growing up? Very little, really. If someone says he or she has got the secrets, watch your wallet.

It is no coincidence that you read such controversial articles about Chinese and French parenting in a US newspaper and that books about French or Chinese parenting sell well. This is because many American mothers are willing to reflect on how they are raising their kids and what they are not doing right. In fact Druckerman is an American mom. So is Amy Chua, who is fundamentally an American mom in the disguise of a Chinese one.