Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior

Yale law school professor and author Amy Chua wrote a book comparing Western child rearing and Chinese child rearing, detailing her own experiences and practices in her book, Battle Hymn of The Tiger Mother.  (See article here)  She talks about how Chinese parenting is superior and produces successful, accomplished disciplined children.  Some of the things her daughters were not allowed to do growing up include:

• attend a sleepover
• have a playdate
• be in a school play
• complain about not being in a school play
• watch TV or play computer games
• choose their own extracurricular activities
• get any grade less than an A
• not be the No. 1 student in every subject except gym and drama 
• play any instrument other than the piano or violin

She defends her practices saying that because Chinese parents operate on the basis that they believe their children are capable of any and everything, that they are allowed to be relentlessly demanding and critical in a way that Western parents would consider abusive.  Meanwhile Western parents, who are so preoccupied with not damaging their children's self-esteem, operate from the theory that their children are NOT capable of performing certain tasks.

While most American parents might find this self-proclaimed TIGER MOM a little (or very much) over the top, we can all admit that having high expectations are not such a bad thing and that each culture, East and West, could learn a little bit from each other, perhaps.