Most first-time moms want to do everything right for their children and it’s the same for first-time mom Isabelle Daza who wants to do everything right for her one-year-old son, Baltie Semblat. Baltie is Isabelle’s son with French husband Adrien Semblat.
Filipino vs French parenting
The Asian Parent Philippines had a chat at the Pigeon Safety Alert event last week. We talked about how she is raising her son, Baltie Semblat, in a mixed culture household.
Isabelle observed that the French have a much more lenient approach to parenting than the Filipinos.
Isabelle shares, “I think ano Filipinos we coddle our children so much whereas the French they don’t… Siyempre it’s not in their culture also to have help and have yayas so they’re a bit more relax.”
“Pagnahulog ‘yong anak ko I’m like, ‘Aaah’ and he’s like, ‘It’s okay. It’s fine,'” she states an example.
She continues, “So I think I’m learning from him, how to be more chill. At the same time there are benefits also of being more…tayong mga Pinoy maalaga tayo, so we make sure to think about things. Okay at 6pm he’s gonna eat, let’s prepare the meal, whereas them they’re a bit, they don’t think of that, I guess ‘yon.”
Quinny and Pigeon brand ambassador Isabelle at the Pigeon Safety Alert event at the Power Plant Mall in Makati
French parenting
They say French parenting is taunted to be the best. Isabelle agrees on this.
“It is,” she says.
The first-time mom shares, “You know I read this book called Bringing Up Bébé and I was that American mom.”
The book Bringing Up Bébé by American journalist Pamela Druckerman particularly caught the interest Isabelle Daza. It’s about the secret behind France’s astonishingly well-behaved children—comparing French parenting with American parenting, and concludes that French parents generally produce more well-behaved children than their American counterparts.
She cites an example with one of her beach outings with Adrien’s family.
“I went to the beach and I had so many toys for my son and sabi ko, ‘Oh my god, he needs to be stimulated.’ And then I look over, then I see my husband he’s playing with his three siblings and they’re just digging up hole with their hands and I’m like ang dami-dami kong bitbit.”
“I have a ball, I have a shovel, I have a pail—I have all these toys and here’s my husband and his family digging up hole and tawang-tawa na sila. So what i learned from there is that you don’t need so many things to be happier or to enjoy. It’s just about you know, finding not naman balance, it’s more like allowing yourself to be curious and allowing yourself to be creative enough to explore simple things,” she continues.
Well-behaved French kids on the dinner table
Isabelle also shares how French kids are trained to be well-behaved on their dinner tables.
She states, “Well again, because they don’t have help, they train their children at a very young age na. If hindi ka kumain ng vegetables, hindi ka kakain, di ba?”
“So in the book it says na, like okay, first you feed the vegetables and then you feed them the main dish and then after dessert… well us, ‘Oh ayaw niya, papalitan mo ng mac and cheese or something else,’ you know something that they would like,” she continues.
She quips, “So I’m learning from them—I’ve learnt so much from them, even my mother-in-law, she teaches me a lot when it comes to French parenting, because they have created children that can stimulate themselves.”
Baltie’s milestones now
Isabelle Daza happily shares also some milestones of Baltie Semblat.
The Kapamilya actress shares, “Now he says Mama, Dada. He says ball. He knows ‘yes’ and ‘no.'”
She continues, citing an example, “So if I ask him, ‘Do you want a banana?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Do you want to touch the horse? ‘No.'”
“When I read him a book, I always read him the same books. So ‘No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed,’ he participates na, so Mama calls the doctor and the doctor said, ‘No, no, no, no more monkeys jumping on the bed,'” the Kapamilya actress shares.
“And then he knows how to kick and play. He knows how to throw a ball and I think what Teacher Tanya said is really important that you need to allow your children to play. Kasi Moms think na play is, ‘Ano ba yan parang it’s a waste of time.’ You have to be constantly learning, but they don’t know that play is actually them learning,” she adds.
Also read: 7 tips para mabawasan ang pag-gamit ng cellphone ni mommy at mas mabigyan ng time si baby