French etiquette is beautiful but it can be awkward even for the French.

Faire le bise

Today I was asked, ‘Do your children still ‘faire le bise. ‘ when you drop them at the school bus, mais non tu es anglaise, c’est plus simple pour vous!’

When and when not to ‘faire le bise’, to kiss both cheeks when you meet someone.

As far as I can work out the general rules are:-

1) Usually women ‘faire le bise’ to men and women. Men always shake hands with men unless it is between male family members when men do ‘faire le bise’.

2) If you don’t know the person, male or female or if that person holds a position of authority then whether male or female, shake hands. Never kiss the school teacher!

3) ahh, but when do you know that person well enough to ‘faire le bise’.. Good question, and even then French don’t know the answer!… My rule is wait until the French person says, shall we faire le bise?

4)How often do you ‘faire le base’, i.e. if you see the same person several times during the day. Generally the first time you see them in the day and the last time in the evening

5) This kissing starts at collège (secondary school)… It can take my daughter a good 15 minutes at the start and at the end of the day to ‘faire le bise’ with all of her male and female classmates.

French parents kiss their children in public a lot more than we reserved English parents!..
It is quite common for children up to 14 -16 to ‘faire le bise’ with their parents when they leave then in the morning and when they are picked up from school.

Conclusions. I like it, it is a nice way to greet someone. You know with everyone, you either shake their hand or ‘faire le bise’. Sometimes in England I don’t know whether or not to shake the person’s hand when I greet them. Maybe a handshake is too formal?, but then to just say ‘Hello’ seems an insufficient sort of a greeting somehow….. Things can be just as awkward in England!