French parents don't know everything!

A fort we found near us

in Villeneuve-Loubet.

The beginning of a forest
school?

In recent years, a lot of books have been published about the greatness of French parenting. The French do have quite a few wonderful ideas, I agree, but they're not the only ones!

After getting tired of all of the dog poops on our sidewalks here in Nice (they're particularly bad in our neighbourhood) and deciding we needed a little more nature for our kids (hiking in the steep foothills of the Alps can be hard with toddlers), we went back to Canada for a little flat-land forest school.

The learning style is very different from what we have here in France.

And... we loved it.

LOVED IT.

I wrote about our experience in Ottawa Parenting Times magazine.

If you'd rather hear more about France and you want a good laugh, however, you can read about how French cities might start DNA testing dog poops ("crottes") so they can fine owners (the article is in French). I can't stop laughing -- probably because my early morning, stroller obstacle course has tired me out. Am I actually in a life-in-the-city dog-poop funk?

I think dogs are awesome, but I really wouldn't mind if a CSI expert gave some of these owners -- particularly the ones who let their dogs poop in front of our elementary school -- a little crap of their own!