French children don't throw food

I have been reding this book by Pamela Druckerman on the way to work and found it a really enjoyable read.   It was getting a bit boring reading 'how to parent' books which were largely prescriptive.  I found it refreshing to read about the problems that this particular new parent faced and how the solutions didn't always come from her personally, but rather from the people she met who had very different ideas about how to raise kids.  She wrote about her observations and what she learnt from other people and how she adapted what she found to suit her particular needs and ethics.  It is kind of what we have been doing with Baby; it was reassuring to read about someone who has done pretty much the same thing and had ended up with a good family life.  It seems to be that getting the balance between discipline and giving a child enough freedom to explore and develop at its own pace is the big parenting challenge.  It isn't always easy as we get so much advice from different people; we have libertarian tendencies but I would admit that this might not be best for Baby as he grows up.  He is getting to a stage where he knows what he wants, and wants what he wants, so we need to be careful in letting him know that it is OK for him to assert himself but also needing to compromise with the needs of others.  The idea presented in the book where children are treated with respect, i.e. that they are active participants in our lives together and therefore require enough discipline to participate reasonably, rather than just lumps that understand little and need to be pandered to, seems like a logical one.  I guess the bottom line is to give them some leeway as they are young but not so much that they are separate from the rest of the human race.