What is up with French superiority and it's backlash?

OK, I did not love the NYT magazine endnote by a woman who brought her American family to eat with a French family...she was so wow'd by her own children's behavior and willingness to eat the French food and behave properly but why are American expectations so low?  I am as American as anyone else, yet I expect my kids to sit nicely for meals, especially at friends' houses or restaurants.  Are we getting to the point that these qualities are viewed as French and offensive to the American families whose kids run around with chicken nuggets and kraft macaroni and cheese? I dare say while it may not be mainstream in Europe, there probably are some misbehaved youngsters....do Europeans say they are acting American? Is the divide continental or perhaps within both societies there are degrees of expectations of one's children.

Some people were offended by Bringing Up Bebe as it clearly was derogatory toward what some see as American behavior and, while I was not a fan of the book, because blah, blah, those French moms are not that great, our ways seem nurturing and nicer, frankly, I do not think eating habits go with strictness.   Why am I not free to define my own children's eating habits as American?  We do not indulge in too much packaged crap although there is some.  We eat a lot of vegetables, legumes and grains but those are easy for me to prepare so I am not more diligent than the mac'n'cheese moms, just skilled in a different style of cooking, and questionably skilled at that. In restaurants, my kids do not get up from the table, they do not get anything served in plastic if I can help it and they do not take a break and run around between ordering and eating.  We often relax over long lunches and even finish with a cup of green tea (yes, an Asian delicacy in our melting pot) this can be as American as apple pie.

I like some aspects of what Is referred to in Bringing Up Bebe but isn't that how we were raised?  I hate to reveal my age, and admittedly my household had occasional TV dinners but my American parents pretty much cooked three meals a day and we ate them, at a table, on china, without plastic cups, without running around.  We asked to be excused at the end of a meal.  Some mealtime traditions are nice.  For me and my food situation (I favor extremely healthy fare) it is nice to sit the kids down and ask them to stay seated while we eat.  I do not always sit with them but they do not eat any "children's food" ...I strongly suspect that the low quality children's food itself often causes the rambunctious behavior and as a society I see a huge push toward bettering food choices and hopefully better behavior will ensue.  But let's not dumb us all down during this time of extreme progress in healthy eating, nutrition education and a push to get kids away from packaged sugary snacks, sodas and fast food.  The backlash to the French supremacy is making people devout in their defense of American eating.  But really, there is something to be learned about obesity, heart disease, diabetes and life that has a heck of a lot to do with how, when and where we eat.   Do not give the French the credit but I do credit the many Americans who still eat the way their parents and grandparents did.