Tiger Mom

Monday, March 7, 2011 by Beth Benoit
Unless you've only been reading about Snooki lately, you have probably heard about the infamous "Tiger Mom."  She's Amy Chua, and she wrote a book called, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, which has people talking all over the country about parenting.  She claims that there's a reason for the sterotype of "Chinese kids" being successful.  She says that Chinese moms drive their kids and get results.  And talking about parenting - how to do it, how it's done now, how it was done in earlier days, and how it's done in other cultres - is something we discuss a lot in my Human Development and Child Growth and Development classes atGranite State College.


As Amy writes in a Wall Street Journal article , "Here are some things my daughters, Sophia and Louisa, were never allowed to do:

 • 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

• not play the piano or violin."

Interestingly, as I write this, there are 7,878 responses to this article.

 Whew!  So what's going on?  Ideas about parenting are always interesting to consider.  Do you think your parents were too strict?  Were they harder on you than on your younger siblings?  And do parents from other cultures raise their children differently than parents in your culture?

In our psychology classes, we especially love to discuss cultural differences.  Take a look at the courses we offer at Granite State College, and you can decide later how your mother will feel about your choice!

 

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