France says it has now probably overtaken Ireland as Europe’s most fertile country, with French women having an average of two children each.

Irish women have 1.9 children each, with the European average at 1.5.

The French birth rate has been growing steadily and has reached its highest level for 25 years.

Three-quarters of France’s population growth comes from births, the rest from immigration. The population has now reached 63 million.

Children of immigrants account for 20% of new births. France’s surging fertility makes it a rarity in Europe, where the overall trend is towards lower birth rates.

The strong French birth rate is evident even on the streets of the capital, where it is not unusual to see a woman pushing a pram while trying to control another child or two.

The growth in the birth rate here over the past 25 years may well be thanks to successive governments’ family-friendly policies.

The French state tries to make it easy for women to work and have children, rather than having to choose between the two.

Most French women can take time off from their jobs without too much financial loss, while childcare is cheap and generally good.

Maternity leave, on almost full pay, ranges from 20 weeks for the first child to 40 weeks or more for the third child - with most employers bound by law to keep the mothers’ jobs open for their return.

Those with large families of three children or more are even better rewarded.

Grants, allowances and tax breaks increase substantially after the third child, with monthly government cheques, free public transport and a host of other benefits.

France even gives parents a ‘bonus’ of 1000 euros a month paid to mothers who give up work for the year in order to have their third child.

It sounds like a strong plan is in place to grow the countries population. By giving moms a bonus for staying home with the third child, France is sending the message that family values are important. They are going that extra bit to help families who would normally need 2 incomes.

SOURCE:BBC

Dailmail is covering a T.V. show to be will be broadcast in Britain, that follows parents and the crazy things they will do to one-up each other.

This must be something that people in upper circles practise because I don’t know any parents in my circle that would try to one up a friend.

The new TV series, The Madness Of Modern Families, uncovers the tactics that middle-class parents are using to give their children a better start in life, or show off, or perhaps a bit of both.

The parents will stop at nothing to make sure their child receives the best education. One parent will ‘camp’ outside a perspective school to secure one of a dozen prized places at the best nursery in the area.

In every programme of the series, parents shamefully admit to such guerrilla child-rearing tactics as doing their children’s homework (right down to faking childish writing) and using surveyors’ instruments to measure out the distance between their home and a favoured school to try to convince the council they live in its catchment area.

If all else fails, renting a flat that is well within the catchment area for six months and pretending to live there is perfectly fine, it seems, in the cutthroat world of modern middle-class parenting.

Normally sane people are doing these mad things because everyone else is doing them and they’re afraid of being left behind,’ she says. ‘Plus, it’s infectious and you get so close you totally lose perspective.

If all of this didn’t qualify for crazy, it is revealed that middle class parents will move into a nice area, get pregnant and then register the embryo for a future spot at a prestigious school.

Then come the improve-yourbaby classes. One father talks about a ‘master’ baby class that was launched in his part of London.

As soon as their child can speak, competitive parents get them to record embarrassing answering machine messages with the clear intention of showing off their articulacy.

A ‘master’ baby class? How about a £10-a-session vegetable eating class for children available in north London, so anxious are middle-class parents to fill their children up with healthy food.

I have to say this is a neighbourhood I couldn’t afford to live in or stomach. These parents have lost the meaning of being a good parent. Doing your child’s homework and pushing them to the competitive limit is not classified as being a good parent. Quality time and practical expectations create an environment that will allow any child to flourish.

There is a lot more craziness in the article please go to the dailymail.com to read.