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  • Bringing Up Bébé

  • One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting
  • Written by: Pamela Druckerman
  • Narrated by: Abby Craden
  • Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (262 ratings)

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Bringing Up Bébé

Written by: Pamela Druckerman
Narrated by: Abby Craden
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Publisher's Summary

The secret behind France's astonishingly well-behaved children is here.

When American journalist Pamela Druckerman has a baby in Paris, she doesn't aspire to become a "French parent". French parenting isn't a known thing, like French fashion or French cheese. Even French parents themselves insist they aren't doing anything special.

Yet the French children Druckerman knows sleep through the night at two or three months old while those of her American friends take a year or more. French kids eat well-rounded meals that are more likely to include braised leeks than chicken nuggets. And while her American friends spend their visits resolving spats between their kids, her French friends sip coffee while the kids play.

Motherhood itself is a whole different experience in France. There's no role model, as there is in America, for the harried new mom with no life of her own. French mothers assume that even good parents aren't at the constant service of their children and that there's no need to feel guilty about this. They have an easy, calm authority with their kids that Druckerman can only envy.

Of course, French parenting wouldn't be worth talking about if it produced robotic, joyless children. In fact, French kids are just as boisterous, curious, and creative as Americans. They're just far better behaved and more in command of themselves. While some American toddlers are getting Mandarin tutors and preliteracy training, French kids are - by design - toddling around and discovering the world at their own pace.

With a notebook stashed in her diaper bag, Druckerman, a former reporter for The Wall Street Journal, sets out to learn the secrets to raising a society of good little sleepers, gourmet eaters, and reasonably relaxed parents. She discovers that French parents are extremely strict about some things and strikingly permissive about others. And she realizes that to be a different kind of parent, you don't just need a different parenting philosophy. You need a very different view of what a child actually is.

While finding her own firm non, Druckerman discovers that children - including her own - are capable of feats she'd never imagined.

©2012 Pamela Druckerman (P)2012 Random House

What listeners say about Bringing Up Bébé

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great book, okay audio

I wish they wouldn’t use fake French accents whenever they read a quote from a French person.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Great!

I loved this book for its humour and authenticity.

I was fascinated by the subtle, yet distinct differences the author finds between the two cultures’ and their parenting styles. Light hearted and fun to listen to out for a daily walk.

The narrator does a great job with her French and American accents as well, I would often laugh out loud while listening to this.

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1 person found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

only useful if you're neurotic

I was disappointed by the scarcity of actual parenting advice throughout this book. More than anything, this is a story of a neurotic New Yorker who needs to move to Paris to realize common sense. The author conflates "American parenting" with "ultra permissive helicopter parents who haven't earned their child's respect", so every anecdote about Americans made me cringe. There are some valid parenting philosophies in this book (e.g. helping your child learn to delay gratification rather than giving in immediately) but honestly these pointers sound like common sense to me.

As many other reviewers have mentioned, the narrator's fake accents are off-putting.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great Book

Humorous and witty!! Very informative for a parent bringing up a child from different ethical background in a different region.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

worst French accent

the story is interesting, even though not really accurate but this very bad fake french accent is making it very annoying to listen too.

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

An entitled narcissist’s view of the world

How this is popular is beyond me. The author sounds like a super annoying person, who is way too proud of herself! (Case in point, rating system for guests, fat shaming women, among other things).

A rich entitled narcissist gives her journal (absolutely nothing scientific, just her observations) of other rich French folk. Won’t get my time back.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Good book, full of wisdom and inspiring anecdotes.

Good book. I really enjoyed the author’s vulnerability and insight. However, the performance was a bit hard to listen to, as a francophone. The French accent was not accurate and the French words were unrecognizable at times.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
  • J
  • 2023-07-26

Decent book, awful french accent impressions.

I really wanted to like and finish this book but me and my wife agreed to stop listening and move on because of the awful voice acting. It became so annoying because half of the book is quoting french people. What's sad is the voice actor's natural speaking voice/accent is quite nice, but faking the accents ruined the whole listening experience.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

could do without the horrible accents

great information and stories but wish the reader wouldn't have tried to do the different accents

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Informative

Really interesting views on parenting. A place for some great ideas, however, if you don’t live in France, a lot of these methods to raise your kid are useless and just leave you disappointed on where you live and how none of this will work for you.

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