I was watching in interview the other day about an American woman who has lived in France for 5 years and is raising her children there. She had written a book about the French way of parenting. Now I have to say that I was very close to tuning out, because everyone thinks they have all the answers to parenting or that every other culture is better than the one they know. However I listened, you never know when you might learn something.

So in a nutshell the theory is; the French build a

Yesterday I did the most wonderful, simple, thing. I spent an entire day with my 3 daughters, shopping, laughing, singing to the radio, having lunch. Their ages are 24, 21 and 19, I am a bit older! I watched them, I talked with them, I made suggestions about their purchases, I watched them coach each other, share with each other, and I made some observations. These are well balanced, mature, centered, confident young women, who love each other, what an amazing wonderful thing.

I heard, and

It’s yet another case of nature versus nurture. Are we born picky eaters or do we create picky eaters?

I have always said, only half jokingly that children have no taste buds! I know our taste buds change as we grow and get older, my have certainly changed. I also know that all of us are more sensitive to some tastes or flavors than others. But when kids are very young it can be very difficult to get them to try new foods. They almost always hate everything, they refuse most things and sweet

I think routines get a bad rap. We usually say it something like, I’m stuck in a rut. But I have found that routines are good for kids, good for mom and usually help us all have a more stress-less life.

You don’t have to be obsessed with having an exact routine, but if your kids, especially little ones have a general idea of what to expect when, they tend to be less frustrated and more happy.

So general guidelines; When we wake up in the morning we…….snuggle for a bit, or get dressed and