Strollerderby : France

What Could a Baby Really Do in Four Hours?

JeanneSager — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 17:49:00 GMT

When my daughter was a baby, a friend looked around my house and sniggered: "this place looks like my sister's house, what do your kids do all day?"

Don't worry, karma got him in the end - he's now the proud papa of two under two.

For those whose friends and families don't understand what their babies do all day to leave the house (and their parents) in such disarray, Glamour relationships columnist Joanna Goddard (author of Smitten) saves the day with a video at her personal blog, Cup of Jo. Her son Charles proves kids do plenty more than eating, sleeping and pooping.

Maybe it's the French music (?), but this is eminently more watchable than any "oh, look at my cute baby" video I've ever seen. Nine-month-old Charles Edward rolls, crawls, climbs, picks up toys and quickly abandons them. The sped up four-hour stint makes the little boy a little insect-like (and I mean that in the most endearing way Joanna!) - which proves kids really do have the attention span of a gnat at this age!

If you get only two minutes to yourself today, this is worth both of them:

French Politician at Work 5 Days After C-Section

Miriam Axel-Lute — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 22:31:00 GMT

Rachida Dati, French justice minister, attended a cabinet meeting last week five days after giving birth by c-section. It might not be giving a speech while leaking amniotic fluid, but the move sparked a lot of outrage across France, with a majority of the public saying it was "too soon" and she should have used more of the four months (six weeks before, ten after. swoon.) she had coming to her.

In fact, another minister has proposed a measure in response to explicitly state that expected practice is that a deputy will step in for a politician on maternity leave to increase the number of people in those kind of jobs who actually take their leave.

I'm of mixed minds on the whole reaction. Of course I would dearly love to be in a country where we are arguing over whether someone should take maternity leave that we assume is available to us, especially after the heart-wrenching stories people put in the comments to my last post on maternity leave. And the additional proposal sounds dandy.

But then we get to the whole mommy police thing. Sure, I personally cringe at the thought of anyone popping off to a meeting five days after either giving birth or having major abdominal surgery, let alone both. But is it the end of the world? Is one woman making that choice really going to constitute dangerous pressure on other women to do the same, as French women's groups are suggesting? I guess I can see it might make some employers feel more free to push for short use of leave, but I'm still inclined toward the "Lay off!" side of this one. It's just not going to work the same for everyone.

And, of course, it needs to be said that fathers don't get the same kind of treatment.

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The French Say: Hey Baby, Get Off the Phone

SunnyChanel — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 03:32:00 GMT

Oh the French, why oh why do they have such distain for technology. The French not only banned television for kids under the age of three but now they have the audacity to take away their cell phones! I jest, have you heard a three year old on the phone? It’s a mash up of gibberish and pregnant pauses. Now that’s just a waste of your minutes. But really, on a more serious note, the concern on cell phone use and kids is not unfounded.

Researchers in Sweden discovered that children and teens are five times as likely to develop brain cancer due to mobile phone usage. Their findings lead them to believe that there may be an epidemic with young cell phone users later in life. Now regardless of my previous kidding, these findings are indeed serious.

The French, they want to keep their kid’s brains intact. They are banning all advertising of cell phones to children under the age of twelve. They will also ban all sales of cell phones designed for the under six-year-old market (which honestly, I didn’t know existed). And they will have establish new limits for phone radiation and will insist that all cell phones sold must come with earphones.

The Independent stated that the French ban is ‘unique’ :

The clampdown represents the most comprehensive action yet taken by any government worldwide. It contrasts sharply with the stance of British ministers, who have largely ignored the recommendations of an official report nine years ago that people aged under 16 should be discouraged from using mobiles, and that the industry should be stopped from promoting them to children. Since then their use by the young has almost doubled, so that nine out of 10 of the country’s 16-year-olds own a handset.

But really, what is a young kid doing with a cell phone in the first place. It’s hard to argue with that unless you lend them yours for an ‘in case of emergency’ scenario.

What do you think the youngest age a kid should get their own phone?

Source: Eco Child's Play

Carla Bruni - The First Lady Of France Would Welcome Mom Advice from Michelle Obama

SunnyChanel — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:00:00 GMT

In the midst of promoting her new album, the singer, model, mother and first lady of France, Carla-Bruni-Sarkozy sat down with the Today Show’s Matt Lauer. Lauer asked Bruni-Sarkozy if she had any advice for Michelle Obama about raising children in the national/international spotlight. About Obama she stated that "She looks like she's a great, strong, intelligent woman” and said “I must say that she doesn’t look like she [needs] advice … I think it would probably be better for me to be getting advice from her.”

Bruni has her own 7-year-old child from a previous marriage and she struggles to keep him out of the limelight. She said she has made some mistakes, such as in the footage they showed during the interview of her overwhelmed son covering his face during a media storm, while on his stepdad’s shoulders. But when you’re being carried on the president of France’s shoulders…well people will notice. Since then Bruni has tried to keep such instances as is at a minimum.

I Dare You to Find a Cuter Kid Video

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:03:00 GMT

The eight painstaking years I spent studying French just paid off. I don’t know who this girl is or where she came off, but I am pretty sure that she will one day inherit the earth.

Just in case you temporarily forgot that little kids speaking French is the best part of life, I share this video with you of a master storyteller with the most zurbert-able cheeks you’ve ever seen. She spins an impressive tale involving Tigger, poverty, a clawed mammoth, a suicidal hippopotamus, and allergies to magic. Truly, this is not to be missed.

Photo: gledwood2.blogspot.com

Once upon a time... from Capucha on Vimeo.

Old French Lady Gives Birth to Triplets

Madeline Holler — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:01:00 GMT

Mon dieu! A 59-year-old woman has caused an uproar in France after she gave birth to triplets in Paris.

It's illegal, after all, according to laws in France for doctors to help women who are beyond their naturally fertile years to conceive. But why the uproar? No laws were broken.

She went to Vietnam for IVF.

From MSNBC:

The woman gave birth by Caesarean section at the Cochin hospital late on Saturday night, a spokeswoman said. She had two boys who weighed 2.3 kg and 2.1 kg, and a girl who weighed 2.4 kg. The mother and the babies were all in good health.

She's by no means the oldest woman to give birth. But maybe the oldest to give birth to triplets. Still, be fruitful and multiply does not apply to her. A Catholic archbishop is quoted as saying this type of science -- which got her pregnant -- is not good for mankind.

Photo: Nature.com

Child Bullfighter Drawing Controversy

Cole Gamble — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:00:00 GMT

Who doesn’t think it’s cute when a child plays dress-up to appear adult. Imagine a toddler police officer or doctor. It’s adorable, but I wouldn’t want to give the kid an actual gun or scalpel. The folks in Mexico feel differently, and so they have introduced to the world the first mini matador. Michelito Lagravere is just 10 years old, and has already chalked up 60 kills in the ring.

But some people don’t think this is so cute.

In France, where Michelito has been performing, the French have been in uproar over this adolescent cow slayer. Although bull fighting does enjoy relative popularity in southern France, French animal rights groups have managed to cancel two of Michelito’s performances so far. Although the idea of a mini meat murderer is disturbing enough, not to mention the potential for danger to the lil’ shaver, it’s likely the French group is using less concerned about Michelito’s well being and rather using him as a pawn toward their larger concern of ending the cruel practice of bull fighting in general. If raising concerns over his welfare gets a few cows a stay of execution, so be it.

We don’t have anything like bull fighting in the US, but kids here get regularly sent out into the woods with a firearm to hunt some animal or another. Sure, a ten-year-old bullfighting is shocking. Howvere, no one blinks an eye when a seven year old wanders into the thicket with a shotgun. Or how about an eight-year old flying over a mountain side on a speeding ATV. What do you think; do we in America casually place our children in deadly situations in the name of sport?

Below: Video of Michelito in bull killing action.

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No twin visits for Jon Voight

Brett Singer — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:30:00 GMT

Usually the birth of a child can bring a family together. But whatever is going on between Jon Voight and Angelina Jolie must be pretty bad. According to E! (that's hard to type – the !) Voight says, "I was just as excited as everybody else" about the birth of the twins. (Maybe, "I'm more excited than everybody else" would have been a better choice of words?) As for actually seeing them in person, "If I'm asked, I'll find a way but I haven't been asked." Here's the REALLY LOUD CELEBRITY NEWS VIDEO FROM E!ONLINE(!!!!!):

It's kind of sad news -- grampa not allowed. But here are some facts about their relationship (in this case, "facts" means stuff I read on the Internet that could be true):

Jolie was raised by her mom, and officially changed her last name from Voight to Jolie in 2002. (I don't remember her ever being known as Angelina Voight, but who knows, maybe I was just busier back then.) She did this about a month the Midnight Cowboy said, on television, that his lovely daughter had "serious emotional problems." Nice! Here's the quote that seems like there's more here than meets the eye: "My father and I don’t speak. I don’t hold any anger toward him. I don’t believe that somebody’s family becomes their blood. Because my son’s adopted, and families are earned." She stated that she did not want to publicize her reasons for her estrangement from her father, but because she had adopted her son, she did not think it was healthy for her to associate with Voight. (Premiere Magazine, via Wikipedia)

Taking that quote at face value, it makes a certain amount of sense. She's adopted, what, about 47 children at this point? She wants them all to feel loved. I would imagine that anyone who adopts a child would say the same thing. (I have no idea if this is true, but it seems like a good thing to feel.) Plus, dad wasn't around for her when she was growing up.

Maybe she's just annoyed at this line from Voight's own Wikipedia page that talks about Angelina and her brother, James Haven: Both children would go on to enter their father's business, James as an actor and assistant director, and Angelina as a major Oscar-winning movie star in her own right.

In her own right? Is that a joke? How often do you hear about what James Haven is up to? I think the last time was when everybody thought he and Angie were a little tooclose, if you know what I mean. Oh, he played an usher in 2003's "Hunter of Man". Didn't see it? Maybe you were sick that day. No disrespect to James, but whoever wrote that needs to get out more.

Anyway, bummer for Jonny V, but based on my potentially inaccurate information, it sounds like Angelina has a right to be pissed off. Brad's parents can play Gramma and Grampa.

image: Heatworld.com

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20 mil for pics of twins

Brett Singer — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 18:45:00 GMT

OMG! Magazines might be paying $20 million for pics of twins! Quick! Everyone with twins hurry and get some shots taken!

Oh, wait. Not YOUR twins. The Jolie-Pitt twins. OH. Sorry. Didn't mean to get your hopes up.

The Associated Press (via Yahoo! News) quotes Darryn Lyons of the photo agency Big Pictures in London, as saying that the "official" photos of the most famous pair of rugrats on the planet could fetch between $15 and $20 million.

How does this compare to previous bambino/bambina windfalls? AOL Money says that Jennifer and Marc Lopez (let's face it, she's the one with the career) received $6 million for photos of Max and Emme in March of 2008. They also received sighs of relief from millions when they gave the kids normal names. But Shiloh Nouvel, Brad and what's-her-name's first non-adopted child, snagged $4.1 million in June of 2006. So the $20 million figure is probably not far off.

Quote of the day: The only other photos that "would possibly come that close is Britney Spears giving birth to an alien," [said Lyons.] I'd pay a couple of bucks to see that.

image: jewels-whatevah

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Train Hits Bus, Kills Seven Children

Cole Gamble — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:00:00 GMT

A train struck a school bus at a railroad crossing in France, killing seven of the kids and injuring a couple dozen people...

The bus was carrying 50 students, 5 adults and a driver. This marks one of the deadliest train accidents in years for France. The cause for the accident is not currently known.

Photo: reuters

Man Divorces Wife Because She Isn't A Virgin

Cole Gamble — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 15:00:00 GMT

People get divorced over some fairly petty stuff. He snores too loud. She dresses too scantly. We will accept almost any reason when a couple wants to split. But when you divorce your wife because of her lack of virginity, you're gonna piss off some people...

A Muslim man in France had his marriage annulled because he says his wife is not the virgin she claimed to be. The French have now been spurred to a debate as to what this ruling means to the equality between men and women. Critics see this as as an affront of Muslim secularism upon the French legal system. The husband in this case, however, claims religion did not play a role in his decision, although the case was tried in the rector of a large mosque.

Prominent feminist Elisabeth Badinter believes the ruling could drive Muslim women to seek surgery to “recreate” their virginity (i.e. sew their hymens together).

Breaking News: Did Angelina Have Her Babies??

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Sat, 31 May 2008 00:14:00 GMT

Reports indicate Angelina Jolie had her twins this past Sunday in France. The twins join their four other siblings: Zahara, Pax, Maddox, and Shiloh.

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Famecrawler isn't sure if this announcement is real, so hang tight for more news...

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Pregnancy and Booze: A Match Made in France

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:30:00 GMT

Back pain and swollen feet bringing you down? That bloated feeling making you want to jump out of your skin? Make like the French, and have a vodka tonic, or even a couple of sérieux (roughly translated as, “one serious beer.”) According to a new study, 52 percent of French women consistently hit the bottle while pregnant. I knew I was a French major for a reason!

I know what you’re thinking: those French and their hedonistic ways. Well, in this case, the majority of tipsy pregnant mademoiselles simply didn’t know that drinking alcohol presents a health risk to their babies. And we’re not just talking an aperitif before dinner.

Here it gets a bit disturbing: Of the 837 pregnant women interviewed, 13.7 percent had at least one binge drinking episode, consuming five or more drinks, during their pregnancy. (Compare this to American women, of whom only 12 percent consume the medically approved daily drink while pregnant.) Tragically, two of the women in the study gave birth to babies with fetal alcohol syndrome. Let’s hope this study serves as a wakeup call to the French that at least one American dietary obsession just makes sense.

Photo: hoverdontsit.typepad.com

Anorexia Now Illegal In France

Amy S.F. Lutz — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:33:00 GMT

Lawmakers in France are so concerned about the estimated 35,000 French women suffering from anorexia that the lower house of Parliament passed a controversial bill yesterday making it illegal to promote "extreme thinness" through magazines, websites and advertisements.

The bill - which carries penalties ranging from fines of $47,000 to a three-year prison sentence if an afflicted person dies from anorexia - still needs to be approved by the Senate in order to go into effect.

Naturally, the prominent figures in French couture denounced the bill. "Never will we accept in our profession that a judge decides if a young girl is skinny or not skinny," claimed Didier Grumbach, president of the French Federation of Couture," adding, "That doesn't exist in the world, and it will certainly not exist in France."

Sacre bleu, Didier! It looks as if a judge may very well be deciding who is too skinny in France. And even if the bill is too vague, as opponents suggest, or too simplistic, as other critics allege, it can't possibly hurt to make editors, designers, and advertisers think twice before sending more images of starved models out into the world.

Babble Talk: Wine While Pregnant? Oui, Oui.

Jen Chaney — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:32:00 GMT

After reading Rachelle Atkins' Dispatches essay on France and its parenting practices, I so want to move there. While she admits that the daycare situation isn't as specatacular as it's cracked up to be (though still far more affordable than what most Americans pay for childcare), she raves about the kid-inclusive lifestyle.

But that's not the most important thing in the story. To me, the most significant point comes in paragraph five: "For plenty of French women, the notion of going without wine, cheese, cigarettes or caffeine for nine months is as crazy as saying a French man must go through forty years of marriage without taking a mistress."

That's right: Pregnant French women slurp wine and chew on soft cheeses with no shame or guilt! If I may borrow a phrase from the comic genius Yakov Smirnoff (who is not French, but just go with it): "What a country!"

One of the hardest things for me about being pregnant was abstaining from wine for nine months. Like Rachelle, I succumbed a few times and had a glass here or there, mainly because various friends told me they had done the same and their children turned out fine. As soon as I started to show, though, I never had a sip in public for fear that some Posse of Pregnant Women would emerge from the shadows, point their swollen, water-retaining fingers in my face and start shouting, "Bad Mother! Bad Mother!"

Obviously many studies have shown that drinking during pregnancy -- particularly on a regular basis or to excess -- can lead to fetal alcohol syndrome. But having a single glass occasionally during the pregnancy, generally speaking, doesn't seem to be a problem. A number of women, assuming they are in the company of friends with whom they feel "safe" admitting this, seem to agree. Some of my friends even said their doctors told them as much. But it seems like most OBs in the States are afraid to allow even a little latitude on the issue out of fear that some women will hear "It's okay occasionally," then go home and throw back a whole carafe of pinot noir.

While the French may be a bit more liberal than even I am comfortable with -- smoking with a baby bump still strikes me as gross -- it seems like they have a healthier, less judgmental attitude about all of this. Could we Americans benefit from modeling some of that behavior? I say, oui, oui.

Photo: Suraj Mathew on Babble.com

France Says "Name Fetuses," Abortion Debate Stoked

Cole Gamble — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:10:00 GMT

France’s high court has granted parents the right to name and officially register their stillborn and miscarried fetuses. It’s a wonderful thing that parents in France have this opportunity to fully mourn their failed pregnancies, but I’d be remiss if I glossed over the whole abortion debate element. Now that fetuses can be named and officially recognized by the government, it stokes the fires of the “When Does Life Begin?” argument.

While it’s unfortunate that we have to discuss such private matters in such public forums, it will be interesting to see if anti-abortion activists over here run with this development. To use the court’s decision as a talking point, however, would require pro-lifers to embrace the French. I don’t want to profile too heavily, but I’ll bet among these activists there are many of those who emphatically cried “Freedom Fries” at France's measured stance during the build up to the Iraq war. Guess it’s time to mend some fences.

French Universal Healthcare Covers Les Femmes' Entire Personal Universe

Madeline Holler — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 19:01:00 GMT

Mon Dieu! The French are so, are so ... French? Did you read this in the New York Times, an expat American's dispatch about how, after giving birth, she got her vagina re-educated? A the state's expense. Like the thousands of other women giving birth there each year. I didn't even know my vagina forgot the main themes, ideas and historical dates after I gave birth. Shoud it have studied more during pregnancy? Is vaginal re-education a part of the International Baccaleureate?

She explains, to my relief, re-education is more about regaining the strength in the pelvic floor and elasticity of the perineum. (I'll stop crunching study guides with my thighs.) Unlike your six-week post-partum check-up, French women get referred to a counselor who asks them questions about peeing and does some poking around, eventually leading the new moms in some hands-on (and in) crotch crunches. After that, they make another appointment.

... Mónica shows me a slender white wand — the kind of device you might have seen for sale in Times Square a decade ago — which she’ll introduce in the next phase. The wand will add electro-stimulation to my mini situps. By the 10th session we’ll be ready to try out a kind of video game, in which sensors on my groin measure whether I’m contracting the muscles enough to stay above a running orange line on the computer screen.

There's also state-sponsored abs re-education, she says.

Seriously? I had to pay for childbirth education out of pocket and it mainly involved videos and snacking on cubes of cheese. I can't imagine my insurance company kicking in tuition for abs classes or anything even remotely involved in the education of my netherparts.

She goes on to compare the U.S. and France: healthcare costs (about half as much in France) and infant mortality rates (also, significantly lower), wait times (slightly longer in France but, at this point, who cares?)

Anybody else feel free perineal re-education is just another reason to envy French women? Or do you think our unsupervised Kegels are good enough to keep once--pregnant American women from peeing when they sneeze?