The "Tiger Mother" Parenting Style
Amy Chua's book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is causing a stir, but it's just making this mom feel like a failure.
My friends call me Mean Mom because I'm way stricter with my kids than they are. My teen boys are only allowed 2 hours of video games a week, must play a sport every season and aren't allowed to have any soda or junk food in my house. I used to lock them out of the house on sunny days, to force them to play outside. And when they misbehaved, they did push-ups as punishment.
So you can probably imagine how I felt when I read the Wall Street Journal story about "Chinese moms"—an excerpt from Amy Chua's new book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother." How they make their kids practice their musical instruments (violin or piano only!) for hours on end (with no bathroom breaks!), how they insist on all A's, how they forbid playdates and sleepovers.
Of course, I felt ... like a failure!
What, you didn't? Maybe you're like my friends—appalled at the Chinese moms Chua describes and feeling smug that you aren't the worst mom on the block. But when I read how the author once called her daughter "garbage" for being disrespectful, all I could think was, "Maybe if I'd have been harsher with my kids they'd be playing in the chamber orchestra instead of doing ollies at the skatepark."
Say what you will about the "Chinese moms," but I think they're getting it right. Don't believe me? Put your kid up against one of his Chinese-parented peers and see how he measures up.
report abuseSo you can probably imagine how I felt when I read the Wall Street Journal story about "Chinese moms"—an excerpt from Amy Chua's new book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother." How they make their kids practice their musical instruments (violin or piano only!) for hours on end (with no bathroom breaks!), how they insist on all A's, how they forbid playdates and sleepovers.
Of course, I felt ... like a failure!
What, you didn't? Maybe you're like my friends—appalled at the Chinese moms Chua describes and feeling smug that you aren't the worst mom on the block. But when I read how the author once called her daughter "garbage" for being disrespectful, all I could think was, "Maybe if I'd have been harsher with my kids they'd be playing in the chamber orchestra instead of doing ollies at the skatepark."
Say what you will about the "Chinese moms," but I think they're getting it right. Don't believe me? Put your kid up against one of his Chinese-parented peers and see how he measures up.
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