我和儿子打地铺

这几天天气热，家里的楼上楼下温度相差至少五度。六岁儿子皮肤容易过敏，怕他睡觉时出汗，于是决定让他到楼下打地铺。他一个人睡楼下，有些害怕，太太身体“金贵”，俺只好陪儿子睡地板了。再说，这是我们家的儿子，太太家可以不管，俺可是心痛呢。

和儿子一起睡地板，就有了交流的机会。我们一起把沙滩毛巾铺好，盖的毯子预备一边，然后，把灯一关，就开始聊天了。孩子是跳跃思维，很难知道他这会儿想什么，过会儿又要说什么。就由他主导。昨夜，他先给我讲“葫芦娃”的故事。这两天，他从我们邻居那里借来一套，天天看，学中文呢。我还没看全，所以，他就用中文加英文，给我讲葫芦娃是怎么战胜妖精的。讲完了，我夸了他两句，说他是一个“smart boy，just need tostudyharder”。我们的话题就转到了学习成绩上。他反复读过Berenstain's Bears系列，对其中的一些故事很熟，就说：

“If I got a D, it would be bad. A is good, right?”

“Right. So far, you are doing great in school.”

“How about a B?”

“It's OK. But, you need to work to an A.”

"That's right. The bear brother had to be grounded when he got an A and 4 Ds.”

“Yes, you read the books and know what to do when you have a bad
grade. How about the junk food? There is a book about the junk food, right?”

“Yes. The bear brother and sister said that it's not healthy.”


“Are you going to stop eating junk food?”

“Ok. How about on my birthday, we go to McDonald?”

“That's ok if we do once for a while. However, don't eat too much junk food.”
....

看来，父母年年讲，月月讲，天天讲，还是不如让他们自己从书本上读来的映像深刻。Berenstain's Bears是一套好书，讲了许多小孩要碰到的实际问题，如：teasing, junk food, being mean, making
friends, bad grade and report card......。它不仅对小孩子有用，也有助我们这些在不同文化环境中长大的父母了解美国父母是怎样对待这些实际问题的方式和态度。它合适５－９岁的孩子。公共图书馆都有。



(8/1/2006)