Why I love socialist countries (and Anglo mother groups)

Living in France you soon realise the advantages of a fundamentally socialist system. Here every mother, working or non-working, has the right to subsidized childcare. A non-working mother has the right to 2 half days a week at a place called “une halte garderie”. My daughter loves it! She learns to sing new songs, dance little dances and play with all her friends, all for the maximum price of 3 euros an hour.
The downside for me, however, was that when we first moved to Paris I did not know a soul. As the state here takes on the responsibility for entertaining the kids, there isn’t really a platform to meet other mothers.
In London, the moment I had a newborn baby and realized I needed daytime friends (most of my socializing up to then had been nocturnal), I joined various groups. I had the choice between baby massage, baby yoga, general baby groups, even baby music for newborns. In France these kind of networks don’t exist, because most mothers go back to work within 4 months of giving birth as the state nurseries are plentiful, cheap and good.
So I fell upon Message:  www.messageparis.org  (A group of other mothers coming from anglo backgrounds, who must have had the same issues as I did, started it up). It has turned into a highly organized network of playgroups, workshops etc.
So now we have the best of both worlds;  my daughter gets to play with other little French kids and sing cute little French songs, and in the afternoon I get to gossip with my mom friends, and the kids play together and everything is bon, as they say in Paris.

-Emilie in Paris