[霖] 培養小孩良好吃飯的習慣 – 為何法國小孩甚麼食物也愛嘗愛吃?

French Kids Eat Everything by Karen Le Billon
http://www.amazon.com/French-Kids-Eat-Everything-Discovered/dp/0062103296

最初看到這本French Kids Eat Everything，就深深被題目所吸引，因為霖霖開始步入她人生的下一階段，就是開始去探索食物的滋味。在三個多月她就開始討厭吃奶，到現在五個多月，有時候看到奶瓶也會閉上雙唇。不過我們堅持著按時間表餵食，她不吃就要等待下一餐，她也是個堅强的小孩，不想吃的就算肚子餓也不會吃，所以體重也比其他的小朋友輕。

我們讓她在四個多月大時開始吃固體食物，可幸的是我們發覺她並不是不愛吃，而是不喜歡吃奶，她對其他食物保持著開放的態度，現在五個半月的她每天也會吃一餐固體食物，她一餐能吃6匙米糊加一隻香蕉，我們也開始讓她吃其他水果和蔬菜泥。

看了此書大約一半，發覺自己的飲食習慣也中了美國人的毒。不定時吃餐，隨意的吃零食，吃很多垃圾食物，十五分鐘就能吃完一餐，和欠缺在餐卓上跟一家人吃飯交談的時間。其實在餐桌上，能讓小孩學習到很多事情，也能培養她們的耐性和社交。

書是由一位在加拿大生活的英藉媽媽所寫的，寫的是那一年她和她的一對女兒跟法藉的丈夫偶而搬回丈夫在法國的老家時所經歷的文化和生活習慣衝擊，由其是在飲食上。

書中指出，吃是對法國人是一件十分重要的事，他們每天談論的話題超過一半是跟吃有關，而他們花在吃的時間也是很多，由買菜作準備到用餐時間可算上半天。在大城市生活的我們未必能花同樣的時間，不過我覺得有幾樣事情是很值得我們學習的。

1. 由家長選擇孩子的食物
有時候有選擇並不是一件好事，法國人相信小孩子應該甚麼食物也要去嘗試。不過要跟著這一套方法去做，大人們自己也要對不同食物有好奇心。

2. 一起在餐桌上吃飯
讓小孩們知道吃飯是每一天很重要的事情，也讓他們在餐桌上學會禮儀。那麼，出街吃飯就不會失禮了。

3.  不要用食物作為獎勵或懲罰
食物是神聖的，不是開心時就吃，不開心時吃更多。最好不要在非用餐時間吃零食，那麼真正用餐時就會不想吃。

4. 先上蔬菜
如果你先上雞翼，孩子吃飽了，就不吃蔬菜了

5. 如果孩子不吃，就把食物拿走好了
不要懇求孩子吃飯，也不要讚美她能吃完一餐。而且就算她不愛吃的食物，也要每次讓她嘗一口，慢慢地她就會接受。

6. 不要培養吃零食的習慣
有時候肚子餓是很正常的

7. 慢食
每次在餐卓上最少花三十分鐘，在餐桌上除了學習吃也要學習跟其他人交談。

8. 用心把不同食材製作成美味的食物
法國人的餐單，三個星期也不會重覆。你自己吃得好，小孩子才能跟你一樣吃得好。

我希望能給霖霖嘗試吃不同種類的食物，也希望她能很快學會乖乖的坐在餐桌椅上和我們共同吃飯。
能培養她有一個良好的吃飯習慣，是未來六個月到一年的目標。

延伸閱讀：

另一本關於法國人的育嬰書 – Bring up Bebe by Pamela Druckerman
http://www.amazon.com/Bringing-Up-B%C3%A9b%C3%A9-Discovers-Parenting/dp/1594203334/ref=pd_sim_b_1

內容重點

1. You can have a grown-up life, even if you have kids. Pamela writes: “The French have managed to be involved with their families without becoming obsessive. They assume that even good parents aren’t at the constant service of their children, and that there is no need to feel guilty about this. ‘For me, the evenings are for the parents,’ one Parisian mother told me. ‘My daughter can be with us if she wants, but it’s adult time.’ "

2. You can teach your child the act of learning to wait. Pamela writes: “It is why the French babies I meet mostly sleep through the night…Their parents don’t pick them up the second they start crying, allowing the babies to learn how to fall back asleep. It is also why French toddlers will sit happily at a restaurant. Rather than snacking all day like American children, they mostly have to wait until mealtime to eat. (French kids consistently have three meals a day and one snack around 4 p.m.) A [French mother] Delphine said that she sometimes bought her daughter Pauline candy. (Bonbons are on display in most bakeries.) But Pauline wasn’t allowed to eat the candy until that day’s snack, even if it meant waiting many hours."

3. Kids can spend time playing by themselves, and that’s a good thing. Pamela writes: “French parents want their kids to be stimulated, but not all the time…French kids are—by design—toddling around by themselves….’The most important thing is that he learns to be happy by himself,’ [a French mother] said of her son….In a 2004 study…the American moms said that encouraging one’s child to play alone was of average importance. But the French moms said it was very important."

4. Believe it when you tell your child “No." Pamela writes: “Authority is one of the most impressive parts of French parenting—and perhaps the toughest one to master. Many French parents I meet have an easy, calm authority with their children that I can only envy. When Pauline [a French toddler] tried to interrupt our conversation, Delphine [her French mother] said, “Just wait two minutes, my little one. I’m in the middle of talking." It was both very polite and very firm. I was struck both by how sweetly Delphine said it and by how certain she seemed that Pauline would obey her…I gradually felt my “nos" coming from a more convincing place. They weren’t louder, but they were more self-assured."