I was with a hilarious, enthused and happy Edda at Occupational Therapy yesterday – happy that she was happy at swinging, knocking wind chimes and spinners with her hands when Deb, our OT asked me if I had read Amy Chua’s excerpt from her new book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. It makes for interesting reading about the “Chinese” approach to parenting, basically yelling at your kids for not being the best at academics and piano and/or violin. Of course, my parents were not this extreme, and I’m really way, way not like this – I am your standard Western coddling mother in which I say “Good job!” to everything my children do because they are already brilliant and perfectly behaved in all situations (except when you need to use a fork, because neither child really knows how to use a fork).
Hrm. apparently it was taken a bit out of context by the WSJ… i'm sure you read all that tho
I guess "Tiger Mom" is good for a lot of kids, especially those of under class. Though, she is single-minded to push her kids to excel no matter what, she still is a lovely Mom inside her tough and rough face. That is her heart.
When I get older and older, I still disagree with my father's approach. But, I do understand him better & better. What he did was what he knew the best at his time.
My Mom was a loving Mom without a lot of means – money, education, know-how, knowledge, …, etc. But, I do love her.