Editor’s note: This is a weekly digest of stories we’re following — trends, news you can use and provocative parenting reads. Got a tip? Write emurray@parentmap.com.
1. Tired of feeling like an inferior parent just because you're American (or for many, many other reasons)? Read this BlogHer tragic-comedic piece: "French Parents Are Superior -- Just Like All Other Parents." Choice bit: "Even messed-up, you know more than you think you do. Maybe. Still, you'll never be as good as Dr. Spock." (Thanks to reader Anne Martens for the tip.)
2. On a more serious note, a neuroscientist opines in The New York Times that American parents might help our kids channel our cultural strengths to develop "self-control, the American way."
3. Are some of you "Pinning" away these days? Read this Harvard Business Review piece on Pinterest by an MIT researcher who investigates the rapidly growing site from an anthropological perspective, and rejects the idea that it's nothing but a "consumer wish list for women."
4. A good personal essay on Motherlode about learning to flaunt the breast pump.
5. An idea-sparking list: 12 Most Loving Ways to Spark Creativity in your Child.
