我和兒子打地鋪

這幾天天氣熱，家裏的樓上樓下溫度相差至少五度。六歲兒子皮膚容易過敏，怕他睡覺時出汗，於是決定讓他到樓下打地鋪。他一個人睡樓下，有些害怕，太太身體“金貴”，俺隻好陪兒子睡地板了。再說，這是我們家的兒子，太太家可以不管，俺可是心痛呢。

和兒子一起睡地板，就有了交流的機會。我們一起把沙灘毛巾鋪好，蓋的毯子預備一邊，然後，把燈一關，就開始聊天了。孩子是跳躍思維，很難知道他這會兒想什麽，過會兒又要說什麽。就由他主導。昨夜，他先給我講“葫蘆娃”的故事。這兩天，他從我們鄰居那裏借來一套，天天看，學中文呢。我還沒看全，所以，他就用中文加英文，給我講葫蘆娃是怎麽戰勝妖精的。講完了，我誇了他兩句，說他是一個“smart boy，just need tostudyharder”。我們的話題就轉到了學習成績上。他反複讀過Berenstain's Bears係列，對其中的一些故事很熟，就說：

“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.”
....

看來，父母年年講，月月講，天天講，還是不如讓他們自己從書本上讀來的映像深刻。Berenstain's Bears是一套好書，講了許多小孩要碰到的實際問題，如：teasing, junk food, being mean, making
friends, bad grade and report card......。它不僅對小孩子有用，也有助我們這些在不同文化環境中長大的父母了解美國父母是怎樣對待這些實際問題的方式和態度。它合適５－９歲的孩子。公共圖書館都有。



(8/1/2006)