Winter is here

Winter is coming

L'automne est passé, demain c'est le solstice d'hiver. Le jour le plus court de l'année. L'hiver vient et cette année je ne me sens pas prête à l'accueillir. L'hiver a plein de facettes. 

C'est la fin de l'année, la période où nous nous demandons où est passé le temps. Papoï a 19 mois. Il marche, court, dit ses premiers mots créant sa langue de l'Allemand, du Français, de l'Anglais et du langage des signes pour bébé. Ja ja ou Nein! sont ceux que nous entendons le plus souvent. Ses mains s'agitent pour demander encore une chanson, ou la lecture du livre sur les camions. Le bonheur de Papoï me remplit de joie. Il devient un petit garçon, heureux, sociable, rigolo, et ouvert sur le monde qui l'entoure. 

Liebe auf Distanz?

A friend sent me the following article Liebe auf Distanz (well the french translation).

To summarise, to improve birth rates, Germany is considering more and more to adopt a system closer to the french one. In the french system, mothers can go back to work really fast, leaving their 3 months old babies in someone else care. Society consider that an accomplished woman should not let having kids get in the way of her career and she should/can do both. In the German system, a good mum is an at home mum. With no obligatory school until children are six, it is very difficult for mums to go back to work after having children. And even primary schools often stop at 2 pm so someone need to pick up the kids. Thus, many women chose to have only one child or none. The focus of the article is that only the positive points of the French system are presented and discussed : Mothers can go back to work. No one asked French working mums what they think and feel. After interviewing french mothers, psychologists, pediatricians, ... the authors conclude that many mums feel pressured to go back to work but would rather stay at home longer, the first year maybe. Many mums would love to have more time at home with their children and not leave them in daycare for so many hours. In many cases, they are afraid to admit it because they would not be seen as valuable to society if they  ONLY took care of their children. So not all French women think it is a perfect system.

How do I feel as a French mum in Germany? How do the mums I know here  German, French or else feel about it?