Discussion: Should we raise our children the 'Tiger Mother' way?

[yanno_yamster]

This recently published piece of article undoubtedly raised much controversy in the US and possibly all over the world.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...528698754.html

The article contains excerpts from Amy Chua's book 'Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother' in which she explains her very strict methods of parenting and compares Chinese and Western parents (both in loose terms) regarding their focus on their children's achievements.

So ReCommers, tell me what you think. Do you think what Amy Chua did was perfectly fine or utterly outrageous? Would you use her methods in raising your own children?

[eve88]

Hm.

I'd say that is an extreme case of how we "Asians" do things - yes our parents do expect us to achieve good results, but not to that extent..

Don't quite agree with Parents Must Know Best though, and even if they do know best eventually the kid needs to learn to make their own decisions.

And no, i won't use quite the same methods =p but kids are a looong way off.

[JonChua]

Yes. But maybe not so fierce la. So can downgrade a bit to leopard or jaguar. Definitely not cougar if you get my drift. For one, I won't call my kids garbage. Stupid, maybe. Because stupid at least implies a modicum of intelligence, just not that much. Whereas garbage is inanimate and possesses no intelligence whatsoever. So stupid is more humane. Starving kids...well, depends la. Depriving a kid of one meal wun kill him. I oso kena before. So no big deal la. Unless starving to Somalia standards, ah, then thts child abuse. But 1 meal is ok. But banning sleepovers, dates, etc. until my kid comes of age? Definitely. Especially sleepovers without adult supervision. Hell, I won't even give my kid a handphone until he/she is at least 14 or so. Coz that's when dad got his. Even then also I'll probably check the handphone now and then to see who my kid is messaging. And definitely no boyfriend/girlfriend until college. Oh, and I'll cane my kid too, if he/she really deserves it. Eg. never do homework for 2 months, then teacher call me and complain. Or if i check ah boy/girl's exercise book and got a lot of LATE or WORK NOT DONE, siap diaorang.

In the end, all parents want are for their kids to do their very best and be satisfied with their work. I know my parents are like that too. So I'm very grateful for all the canings, punishments, confiscations (I want my digivice back!! Oh, and finally got back my gameboy color which miraculously still works, after about 8 years kena rampas), threats, scoldings, and insults. I know that they did all that because they love me and could not bear to see me not do my best. Of course, they'd prefer me to get an A all the time, but not to Amy Chua punya extent la. That one is a bit extreme. For me, same also la, if they get a B or two, or even a C, still ok. As long as they score when it matters, fine la. But I'll still prefer an A. So I'll prolly be 80-90% Tiger dad. Must support Amy Chua a bit la, Chua clan also what.

(Technically, I'm a snake dad, born in the yr of the snake. And I wanna have Dragon children or Tiger children!! Not that I'm that superstitious, but it would be nice )