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Le déjeuner : du temps perdu ?
Je suis tombée sur un article étonnant intitulé « Une nouvelle étude révèle que les élèves sont plus susceptibles de manger un petit-déjeuner à l’école si on leur donne plus de temps ». Cette étude m’a étonnée dans la mesure où ce qui est présenté comme une trouvaille scientifique et scientifiquement mesurée est une évidence pour moi. Sans doute suis-je aidée par ma culture française, mais cela me parait évident que pour manger correctement, et en tirer le bénéfice escompté, il faut de préférence se mettre à table et y passer du temps. En France il est culturellement admis que les adultes doivent manger 3 fois par jour (petit-déjeuner, déjeuner…
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Lunch time: waste of time?
I came across a surprising article titled “Students are more likely to eat at school when given extra time, new study finds”. This study surprised me because what is presented as a scientific and scientifically measured finding is obvious to me. No doubt that I am guided by my French culture, but it seems obvious to me that to eat properly, and to benefit from it, everyone should preferably sit down and spend time. In France it is culturally accepted that adults should eat 3 times a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner), preferably at fixed times (breakfast between 6am and 9am for a workday, lunch around noon and dinner…
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Bullet-proof backpacks for back-to- school?
Here in the US the summer holidays are about to end. Depending on Counties, back to school happens between early and late August, rarely after. In Virginia, in our county back-to-school is scheduled for mid-August. Ten days ago, we all received mails from schools, with the list of supplies and class assignments and there are back-to-school sales in different stores. Last weekend was also the Tax-Free week-end for us. Given the amount of sales tax here in Virginia (5.3% vs almost 20% in France) the money you save doesn’t touch the sky but you’d better save it anyway. In the midst of this buzz I came across some…
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Acheter des sacs à dos pare-balles pour la rentrée des classes ?
Ici aux Etats-Unis les vacances d’été sont sur le point de prendre fin. Selon les Counties, la rentrée des classes se passe entre début et fin août, rarement après. En Virginie, dans notre county la rentrée est prévue pour mi-août. Il y a une dizaine de jours les courriers des écoles (comportant la liste des fournitures et l’affectation des classes) ont commencé à arriver et les magasins font des soldes sur tout le nécessaire pour le back-to-school. Le WE dernier il y a même eu les journées Tax-Free, c’est-à-dire un WE prolongé de 3 jours pendant lequel pour l’achat de certains articles (notamment la plupart des fournitures scolaires et la…
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Why European regulations are useful!
Since we’ve been living here in Virginia, we regularly get surprised by differences between what we were used to in France and how things go on in the United States. We realize more and more that our lives were standardized and regulated and that there are far fewer rules and laws here. Some may think that it is a good thing, that too much regulation restrains creativity, at the expense of the consumer. I even remember this recurring joke in France about the uselessness of the European Commission that would regulate the caliber of eggs instead of dealing with “real” problems. The question is what “too much” regulation means.…
