Then I must wait and follow its development carefully, provide for new requirements as they arise, and I will try to guess what type of plant it will turn out to be. Naturally, I can hope for every success imaginable. For example, a tomato seed can never produce a sunflower and potatoes will never grow from its roots. If I teach the child good manners, I do it to give him another tool with which to succeed. He thus chooses and molds himself.
French childhood is a time of rigorous socialization.
Besides learning all of the necessary social graces, French children are expected to have 2 - 3 hours of homework per day. American childhood, on the contrary, is a time of greater freedom, of games, of experimentation, of exploration and discovery where the sole restriction would be imposed if the threat of bodily injury became apparent. With this same thought in mind American parents avoid, if at all possible, to criticize the child, to mock his tastes, or to constantly tell him how he should handle this or that situation. Trial and error is the preferred mode of learning. One can learn more from one's mistakes than from one's successes.