Book Recommendation - French Kids Eat Everything

Have you read this book?  It's one of the better ones I've read in a while, so I thought I'd share.

French Kids Eat Everything:  How Our Family Moved to France, Cured Picky Eating, Banned Snacking, and Discovered 10 Simple Rules for Raising Happy, Healthy Eaters by Karen Le Billon is written in a familiar and casual style, with just enough French phrases thrown in to make it feel authentic without being annoying.  The book details the author's decision to move her family for one year to her husband's small hometown in France and the subsequent "food journey" on which they unwittingly found themselves.  Apparently, the French attitude toward food (from the shopping to the preparation to the actual eating) could hardly be more opposite that of the typical North American.  In this regard, the book is very relevant to any reader, parent or not.  I certainly found myself reconsidering my own thoughts in regard to food, including subconscious attitudes that I was not aware of since they are so ingrained in our very culture and upbringing (for better or for worse).  In the book, the author systematically develops ten "rules" (which she insists are followed more as "guidelines" in France) that her family (which includes two young girls) discovered and adopted during their year in France.  She articulated these "unspoken rules" of French culture after much observation, conversations with locals (including French relatives), and careful research.  The "rules" revolutionized her family's eating habits, and she subsequently adapted the rules to their North American lifestyle once they returned to their home in Canada.

How do you feel about the food you eat?  The manner in which you eat it?  The frequency of your eating?  How long it takes you to eat?  What about your food preparation?  Or even your food sources?  Quite honestly, I was pretty indifferent to most of these questions before reading French Kids Eat Everything.  I figured that the most important thing about food was eating the proper servings of fruits and vegetables, thereby ensuring that we ate all the proper nutrients.  In this way, I think I have the typical American mindset - food is about nutrition; being hungry or full; what's bad for you and what's good for you.  The author presents the French attitude toward food as being one of enjoyment, where enjoying food is a life-skill that they teach to their children.

And I guess that's the biggest thing I took away from this book.  Food as a life-skill.  From the purchasing to the preparing to the consuming.  What am I doing now to help train my children for a life-time of food?  I want them to associate food with nutrition, yes, but also with community and enjoyment and conversation and maybe even with a little curiosity - about flavors and textures, of course, but also about the lives of the people with whom they are sharing it with.

Here's what I took from this book that I am now working on changing in our home:

• Being more proactive in teaching my kids about food.  
• I don't know why it never before occurred to me to educate my kids about our food, but since I've started I've been amazed at how much they are able to understand and retain!  And that they are actually interested!  For starters, I have mostly focused on positive things...how certain foods help us grow strong bones, muscles, and minds; or help us fight off sickness; or help us to be in a happy mood, etc.  The kids have loved finding out these things and now they will ask me, "What does this food do?"  Of course, there are times that they request items are not good for them; and when I say no, they inevitably ask "Why?"  My answer is that we want to fill our tummies up with foods that help us grow healthy bodies and minds, and some foods simply will not do that for us.  Now and then, Serena has persisted to know more about poor food choices and why other kids are eating them; and we've talked about "junky food" that our bodies don't know what to do with and how everyone gets to make choices about what they eat.  We do enjoy treats with our kids now and then, and are trying to teach them that it's okay to have a treat for something special and/or in moderation.  For us, this hasn't been too hard, since we've always tried to avoid sugar and processed foods with our kids (mostly because we don't want to have to deal with sugar "highs" or "crashes," haha!), so this step has been more about being intentional about our food choices and teaching our kids about why we make the choices we do.
• Using food for nutrition, rather than as a reward or a distraction.  
• I've cut way back on snacking for the kids.  I'd already been feeling a little disillusioned with snacking...I just felt like they would eat so much better if they weren't getting filled up on all these little snacks!  :/  But, when a kid says they're hungry, you feed them, right?  Not necessarily.  If they're getting enough during meals, they will most likely be fine in between.  Obviously, there have to be exceptions; but by and large, I've found that cutting out snacks has been a really good thing for us and not nearly as difficult as I had anticipated.  Now, I only let them "snack" in the car if we're on the road during a mealtime.  (This often happens to me on errand day as I have a hard time getting us home by lunchtime!)  Instead, we listen to stories on CD as a distraction, or I have them try to spot things that I see (this works in stores and on the road).  I'm really enjoying being freed up from constantly trying to find snacks for everyone (which is made even more labor-intensive if you try to only feed "real" food to your kids)!  Our new normal is to eat breakfast, lunch, after-nap snack (which is always simple and small), and then supper.  If anyone says they are hungry in between these times, I just say, "It's okay to be hungry sometimes.  We'll be eating (insert-next-meal-here) soon."  This felt a little strange at first, since I nursed them "on demand" when they were babies and kind of brought that philosophy into their toddler-hoods; but now that I've seen how much better they eat and how much more receptive they are to new foods, I feel like we're on a more healthy track.  (By the way, I still firmly believe in nursing on demand!)
• Preparing and eating food together.
• We're not exactly religious about this, but I am trying to include the kids more...from the selection of our food at the store to the preparation of our meals at home.  I'm trying to use their natural curiosity and desire to help and to be grown-up to my advantage.  I've noticed that this has greatly increased their enjoyment of food.  
• Since Jordan's job has him away from home at suppertime 4-5 times a week, I'm tempted not to sit down and eat with the kids but rather to just wait for him.  But now, I try to sit down with them and share in their meal, even if I just eat a little bit, and still wait to eat the rest of my meal with Jordan.  This is another tip that I've noticed helps the kids to be more receptive towards new foods.
• Taste everything.
• Turns out, there have been numerous studies about how many times it can take for a child to be receptive to a new food.  This is apparently common knowledge in France, and French pediatricians encourage parents to keep introducing new foods rather than giving up at the first couple rejections.  They also educate parents about how toddlers are generally interested in "new" things and are more receptive up until the age of two or three.  Then, children usually go through a relatively short phase of being afraid of new foods.  If this is treated as just a phase, kids generally grow out of it.  True food neophobia is quite rare.  However, if parents cater to this phase, kids have a much harder time growing out of it (hence, the common problem of kids who will only eat mac-n-cheese and chicken nuggets).  
• In our family, we do not let the kids say they "don't like" something.  I've told them that hurts Mommy's feelings (because it does, haha!  Silly, I know.).  They may say, "I'm all done," but only after they've tasted a few bites of whatever-it-is.  And they may not have something else instead.  When they don't like something, we'll say, "You'll like it better when you get bigger" and we keep serving it.  And you know what?  They end up eating it willingly after a while, and then they are so proud of how "big" they are because they now like "grown-up food!"  A little encouragement and matter-of-factness goes a long way!  
• Somewhat related to this one is the issue of dessert.  We don't want to use dessert as a reward or punishment, but we don't want kids to fill up on dessert if they've turned down more nutritive foods.  So, we treat it as a sequence of events/cause-and-affect...first this, then that.  If you didn't eat your serving of this, you don't get to eat that.  It makes sense to them, and I don't need to get frustrated.
• Eat real food.
• You're training your kids' taste buds...of course, they're probably going to like sugary, processed foods; but give them the opportunity while they are in your home to learn to love 'real' food by preparing and presenting it well.
• Teach them how to enjoy a meal.
• Eating is a very social activity and a good meal is best enjoyed with friends and family.  I'm trying to be more intentional about teaching them how to be considerate of those around them at the table, how to be patient at the table (this is so hard and I'm so open to suggestions!!), and how to be interested in those around them and to make conversation.  Fortunately, their father is an amazing conversationalist, so I think their chances at developing that skill are very good.  ;)

Get the book and read it!  At least skim it, although I think you'll enjoy the writer's style enough to do more than just that!