Catherine Crawford Quotes.

1. "When the French need a solution to a particular problem, they tend to consult one source, not fifteen different friends or chat-room chums. This has the effect of cutting down on anxiety—and does wonders for just about every aspect of parenting."
- Catherine Crawford, French Twist: An American Mom's Experiment in Parisian Parenting

2. "One French mom broke it down for me in simple terms: Your job is not to be their friend. That does not work with children. You need to be their mom and teach them well. I would love to spend my day holding my child, but I know that is not good for him."
- Catherine Crawford, French Twist: An American Mom's Experiment in Parisian Parenting

4. "In France, everyone in the family has a job. The parent’s role is to be the chief, and the children have the job of obeying their leader. French children are raised with this in mind, so there is much less debate and resistance."
- Catherine Crawford, French Twist: An American Mom's Experiment in Parisian Parenting

5. "If being strict means forbidding what is dangerous, then, yes, be strict—but with compassion and always while respecting the child, who is an adult in progress. We must take the responsibility upon ourselves to restrict certain things because they are psychologically or physically dangerous. If we parents are not strict … our children will be forced to regress and censor themselves, or at least try to. There is nothing more debilitating for a child; he wastes all his energy in the effort.… If we are strict, our children may be furious, but they will conserve their energy."
- Catherine Crawford, French Twist: An American Mom's Experiment in Parisian Parenting

6. "Incredibly, for an American mom used to fast-changing parenting trends, French child-rearing techniques didn’t seem to have changed all that much over the years."
- Catherine Crawford, French Twist: An American Mom's Experiment in Parisian Parenting

7. "Because that is how we do it—we approach pregnancy like a job, gobbling up everything we can on the subject so that we are experts on every theory. And, as with most jobs, a certain amount of drudgery accrues. I have discovered that, in addition to ensuring mastery of these theories, this strategy to parenting also, unfortunately, results in utter confusion and frustration."
- Catherine Crawford, French Twist: An American Mom's Experiment in Parisian Parenting

8. "It is not that the French don’t make adjustments, but they also don’t seem as completely consumed by the miracle within."
- Catherine Crawford, French Twist: An American Mom's Experiment in Parisian Parenting

9. "Maybe it is from all of the processed foods in this country, or maybe it is hormones, but something odd happens to the American brain when we start to breed, and our weakness for stuff, stuff, and more stuff gets further inflated."
- Catherine Crawford, French Twist: An American Mom's Experiment in Parisian Parenting

10. "The new refrain that I have been trying to spread around is: Why should parents have to completely give up their identity just because they decided to have children?"
- Catherine Crawford, French Twist: An American Mom's Experiment in Parisian Parenting

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