Mother of the world: Argentina
"Why is everyone giving me stuffed animals?" asks Maria, 34, born in Buenos Aires and living in France for 10 years. All these rituals around sleep surprise her: the music, the comforter, the calm...
In Argentina, it's different, the child sleeps when he's tired and it doesn't matter where he is! For the Argentines, any pretext is good to get together and go out, even with babies... From birth, they dance with their parents in restaurants. Partying always trumps little ones bedtime.
Maternity leave
In Argentina, maternity leave lasts 45 days before childbirth and 45 days after.
Often, the woman stops her studies to have her children young, she can then easily go back to evening classes, helped by her husband who manages the baby. The average age of the primeriza is 25 years old.
Pregnant women are almost systematically referred to hospitals for greater safety, while some would prefer to give birth at home. The men take care of the children more.
Maria says that when she was born, her family did not have a washing machine and that her father did the laundry by hand in the garden, but a neighbor laughed at him so he stopped and started cooking away from the eyes of others! Before the role of each parent was well defined but not today.
Argentine traditions
Babies wear a small red bracelet to protect them from the evil eye and the envy of others. This keeps bad energies away and attracts protective waves. It is worn on the left wrist, the side of the body most connected to the soul.
City dwellers no longer use the natural remedies of our ancestors, but some Argentinians still have recourse to the curenderos, the shamans, who use herbal preparations that only they know!
Everyone meets around 10 p.m., any day of the week, in a parilla of the district where one can eat seated or standing. No waiters or adults overwhelmed by the cries or excitement of children like in France.
Baby and food
Children swallow their first steak as soon as their teeth appear.
Food introduction begins around 5 months with vegetable purées (carrot or potato). earth) then comes the homemade applesauce. All Argentinian babies are addicted to Vitina, sachets of semolina with spinach for example. It's good and it's quick to prepare!
When you're older, lunch is taken at home because school is only half-time: in the morning or after -noon. The parents therefore prepare meat or cheese sandwiches for the 10 a.m. snack.
Dinner is eaten late like in Spain around 10 p.m. and always with the family.
Like an Argentine mother
Argentinians, far from being impolite or disrespectful, rarely use the polite formulas that are constantly repeated to children in France. For them, you shouldn't ask too much of children, they are not small adults. Of course, we ask the children to behave well at the table, to use the cutlery, but the parents do not formalize if they break the rules a little.
Argentinian mothers get mate (the national drink) to promote milk production. From Native American culture and made from yerba mate leaves, milk can be added to promote lactation. Mate is very rich in antioxidants, it has about 90% more antioxidants than green tea and has immune-boosting properties.
