A Family Visit to Paris' Jardin des Plantes & Ménagerie

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The top tourist sites in Paris are its museums and monuments, but Le Jardin des Plantes is an excellent choice for families looking for a peaceful, educational, and fun destination within walking distance from Notre Dame de Paris. (I suggest taking the Metro, though, if you have little ones in tow.) This garden is France's main botanical garden, and it houses a zoo, a carousel, an amazing animal display (La Grand Gallerie de l'Evolution), and several other museums focused on natural history.

 
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Visiting the Louvre & Jardin des Tuileries with Kids

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Many people might not consider taking their children to France's museums but even young children can appreciate the Louvre's incredible treasures in its opulent palace setting. You can pique your child's interest with the Louvre's own interactive site for children or printing out their treasure hunts for families (select parcours-jeux on their family page).

On the first Sunday of the month, many museums in France offer free admission. We'd planned to take advantage of this offer to visit the Louvre (the world's most visited museum), but instead we went the following day, thinking that it would be less crowded if most people had come the day before. Perhaps this was true, but in summer there are such hoards of tourists that any dip in attendance was imperceptible! You can try to avoid the crowds by arriving early or when the Louvre is open very late on Wednesdays or Fridays. (Kids under 18 enter free everyday.) 


 
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Arriving in Paris (and What Not To Do on Arrival)

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 Bonjour les amis! We're in Paris! This is my first trip back to France in eight years, and It's great to be able to share this city with my husband and children. (He and I were last in France when I was two months pregnant with our first child.) I hope to write more frequently about our experiences here, so Intentional Mama will be more of a travel blog for a while, d'accord? Here's how we're adjusting, and what we've learned the hard way:

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Visiting Iceland with Young Children: Tips & Activities

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Halló from Iceland! We're in Reykjavic on a five-day stopover before we continue on to France. Did you know you can stopover in Iceland for free when flying Iceland Air to or from Europe? This is our first time doing so, and we've had an amazing experience. We exchanged homes with an Icelandic family through HomeExchange.com and staying in their home has been one of the best blessings of our stay. We've also had a chance to visit one of our former exchange students and her family, so we've truly had a great time! In case you get a chance to visit here or know someone who will, here are our tips for a great family vacation in Iceland:

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On Returning to France: How "Paris to the Moon" Allays My Fears

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In preparation for our trip to France (we leave next week!), I’ve been re-reading Paris to the Moon, Adam Gopnik’s essays on five years of living in France with his wife and young son. It’s a perfect read now, because in the weeks before I leave for France I always develop a small undercurrent of fear—fear that perhaps France won’t be the same.

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Why I Try to Avoid Spanking

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As parents, we either respect or reject the way we were raised. My parents were fairly authoritarian and followed the advice of Dr. Dobson, whose book The Strong Willed Child was a bestseller in the '80s. They believed in the adage "spare the rod and spoil the child;" and in our household, the rod was a wooden spoon or a yardstick. But we three daughters rarely needed such correction. When we were disciplined in this way, my parents always prefaced it with an explanation of what we did wrong and a reminder that they loved us.

As an adult now, however, I can't recall more than one or two reasons why I was spanked. Instead, what I remember is the boiling anger and resentment it stirred up in me. I certainly don't recall deciding to change my behavior as a result, only trying to avoid getting caught. Psychology backs this up, showing that punishment motivates a child to avoid future punishment but it does not effectively change behavior by itself.

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Tips for Choosing Family Lodging in Paris

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We're certainly not the only family headed to France soon--an article in The Wall Street Journal last week announced that Europe is bracing for record numbers of visitors this summer, largely due to the favorable dollar/euro exchange rate. Nonetheless, I think Audrey Hepburn would agree that even when traveling as a family during the height of tourist season, Paris is always a good idea. Over the past five years, the amount of home and apartment rentals online has grown exponentially, making it simpler to find an affordable and accommodating space for your family. Here's what you should know if you're looking for family lodging in Paris:

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