Does the ‘Tiger Mother’ method of parenting make for more successful kids?

By Mandi Gosling
January 27th, 2011
Section: Opinions - Question of the Day

Harvard University law professor Amy Chua’s book “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother,” tells the story of how she raised her two daughters, “the Chinese way,” meaning under extremely strict rules.

Chua has been accused by many of cruelty in her unusual parenting methods, which include denying her daughters play dates, sleepovers, and participation in school plays. She writes in her book, “the only activities your children should be permitted to do are those in which they can eventually win a medal. She also told her daughters that an A minus was unacceptable.

However, her kids appear to be turning out to be extraordinary people.  Her oldest daughter is a piano prodigy who played at Carnegie Hall at the age of 14 and her youngest daughter is a talented violinist.

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  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_UF2FTNRGMCUODIYDJA64XV5FCQ Anonymous

    If my daughter’s success were to be evaluated according to her grades and college acceptances, with her near-perfect SAT scores, and offers of admission from Harvard, Yale and Princeton, she is no doubt a successful child, and I will certainly be in the running for the Top Ten Best Parents Award, if there were such an award.

    In the same way that a successful child can be defined in so many ways, there is truly no one way to parent.

    I am Chinese, and I am a mother, but I am not a tiger mother. I wanted to be a good mother, a wish that all mothers surely share.

    In my quest to be one, I read parenting books. I sought advice from parenting experts. I talked to other parents.

    Everyone had something to say to me about parenting, the Asian way to parent, the Western way to parent, the right way to parent, the better way to parent, the best way to parent, the only way to parent.

    It has been more than two decades since I read my first book on parenting. And now looking back, I see that I had the best teacher in my daughter. From the minute she was born, she was telling me how I could be the right mother for her…the best mother for her…

    And I learned…by listening to her…by watching her…and by knowing her…

    http://www.thegoodchinesemother.wordpress.com

  • JC333

    This topic is weeks old, let it rest.