American parenting and whether other cultures do it better

Air Date: March 23, 2012

David Young practices changing diapers during the parenting at Quantico Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Va. (AP)

Hour 1

The recent spate of books for American parents about parenting in France, for example, got us wondering what’s wrong with American moms and dads anyway? Are French kids really better eaters? Are they more polite? OK, maybe some of us are competitive perfectionists, others of us hover and worry too much, but are we that incompetent when it comes to raising our offspring? MEI-LING HOPGOOD author of How Eskimos Keep Their Babies Warm, says there is no one size fits all way to care for our children and perhaps there are lessons to be learned from a variety of cultures. Washington Post writer BRIGID SCHULTE thinks that while we all want what is best for our kids, we’re just not sure what exactly is best. We talk with Hopgood and Shulte about the American way of child-rearing in this hour of Radio Times.

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[audio: 032312_100630.mp3]

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