Resting Easy about Babies and Sleep

April 10, 2015 by Michele Cherie in American Culture, French Culture, Reflections on Parenting

A few months before my first child was born, I thought two nurses had given me the ticket to a good nights' sleep after baby's arrival. I'd read their book (complete with a DVD demonstrating how to swaddle); it advocated letting your baby cry for two nights so that he or she would learn to sleep through the night by the third night. This technique--commonly known as cry it out or CIO--seemed to me a bit harsh but necessary, like vaccines, so I considered it good advice.

Then I became a parent.

Catching Up: le premier avril

April 01, 2015 by Michele Cherie in French Culture, French Resources, Teaching French

Bonjour les amis! I've missed you! Je m'excuse--I'm sorry I didn't write more last month. I've been planning our summer séjour in France, with a 5-day stopover in another country on the way (any guesses as to which country? I'll give you a few hints as our departure approaches!).

Today is le premier avril (April 1st). In France and some francophone countries (as well as Italy), today is known as April fish day because children try to tape paper fish on the backs of unsuspecting people. When their prank is discovered, they cry, "Poisson d'avril!" (April fish!) If you'd like to know more about April Fool's Day in France, Geraldine from Comme Une Française has made a brief video in English about it:

French by Heart: Rebecca Ramsey's Memoir

March 17, 2015 by Michele Cherie in French Culture, Travel, Cultural Reflections

In July 1999, an American mama named Rebecca Ramsey moved to France with her husband, baby, seven-year-old boy, nine-year-old daughter, and their aging cat. Her family stayed in the Auvergne for four years, and I'm grateful that she later crafted her family's experiences into a humorous and endearing memoir entitled French By Heart (published in 2007). After all, there are plenty of memoirs about expat life in France, but few of them reflect the experience of an American family with young children truly attempting to assimilate into French life over the course of several years.

From Exchange Student to Mama in France: Looking Back and Ahead

March 10, 2015 by Michele Cherie in French Culture, French Language Learning, Travel, Cultural Reflections

Ten years have passed since I was an exchange student in France; seven years since my husband and I last traveled there. Now I'm planning our first visit to France as a family--an extended trip this summer through autumn. We'll start in Paris as tourists, stay with friends in the countryside, and finish in Lyon as inhabitants while my daughter begins school alongside other young francophones.

5 Truths I Learned About French Parenting from Bringing Up Bebe

October 08, 2014 by Michele Cherie in French Culture, Cultural Reflections, Parenting Books, Reflections on Parenting

Though I lived in France for a year and a half in my twenties, it wasn't until I read Pamela Druckerman's Bringing Up Bébé in 2012 that I started to gain a full picture of French parenting. Here are five general truths about French parenting that I learned from reading Bringing Up Bébé:

1. French women don't breastfeed their babies all that long, even by American standards. A few months seems to be typical, partially because the vast majority of French women return to work after several months of maternity leave. I expect I'll be nursing our seven-month-old infant when we stay in France next summer, so I'm curious if my French friends will see this as an unusually long time to breastfeed a child.

No, No, No--Not in August!

August 06, 2014 by Michele Cherie in American Culture, Cultural Reflections, French Culture

"No, no, no--not in August!" This phrase is a French joke between my husband and me. It stems from a conversation we had with a French friend when we were visiting France to attend a wedding several years ago. Our friend stated that French teachers would never return to work in August. They'd choose to go on strike rather than work in August, which is essentially national vacation month in France. (The French receive a minimum of four weeks of paid leave annually, and the majority of the French take a month for vacation in either July or August--usually the latter.)

Why Bringing Up Bébé Caught Americans' Attention

July 25, 2014 by Michele Cherie in American Culture, Cultural Reflections, French Culture, Learning Resources, Parenting Books, Reflections on Parenting

Do you remember the buzz surrounding Pamela Druckerman's 2012 book Bringing Up Bébé? The subtitle was One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting. The book still ranks among the top twenty parenting sold books on Amazon, currently #2 in the motherhood subcategory. After the book's release, Time magazine included Druckerman on its list of the 100 most influential people of 2012. (Upon hearing this news, her husband dryly quipped, "You're not even the most influential person in our apartment building.")

Bastille Festival: Celebrating France in Oregon

July 15, 2014 by Michele Cherie in French Culture

Even though I've lived in Aix-en-Provence and Lyon, I've never been in France for la Fête Nationale on July 14th. I'm especially grateful, then, that my hometown of Portland, Oregon, is the site of the largest Bastille Day Festival on the West Coast. Organized by the Alliance Française de Portland, this family-friendly festival draws thousands of visitors over six hours of events. This year marked the tenth annual celebration. Here's what I continue to love about it: