<p>I think what the author isn’t saying is that some parents, Asian or Western, are just . . . bad parents. For example, with the losing weight part, I have seen both Asian and “Western” (but, ok, more often Asian) mothers push their daughters to lose weight because they, the mothers, had issues of self-image and were taking it out on their daughters. Not a very effective strategy, by the way, especially when they were obviously talking about losing weight regardless of how the girls did it.</p>
<p>Neither culture is perfect, and I agree that it depends on the kid. During my years in East Asia, I did notice a lot of families following the pattern of being strictest with the first child, and easiest on the youngest. I feel like most families in every culture I’ve ever lived in are this way. It’s almost inevitable, I guess-- parents run out of energy :)</p>
<p>I could only read the first paragraph, it’s too painful and f’ed up. This only reinforces the stereotype. Why doesn’t WSJ write about black people selling/doing drugs? HUH.</p>
<p>You go to a jail and you see hundreds and thousands of black people and no maybe 1 asian dude. You go to a piano/violin/orchestra performance and you see dozens of asian people and maybe 1 black dude. Don’t deny it. We see it on TV and in real life. How would it be if the article was about black people now?</p>
<p>I hate these Asian stereotype articles. (If you haven’t noticed… I’m Asian btw)</p>
<p>She forgot to factor in lack of social skills and general awkwardness later on in life. Although I really do have to attribute some of my self-esteem to getting so sick of being put down that I refused to let it matter what they thought anymore.</p>
<p>This is written by an Asian mom talking about her own kids. If this is serious then WOW. Ignorance much? Over-generalization much? Asians account for 5% of the US population and “Westerns” (only white) account for 80% of the population. This isn’t even a fair comparison. Can I say ASIAN FAIL!</p>
<p>I am Asian and my mom used to be like that. She would flip out every time that I got a B or lower on a test or do not understand how to do a homework problem. I, unlike most other Asian kids, have a strong sense of justice and was fortunately able to easily see the different between Asian and Western parents. I was extremely rebellious. That, combined with issues such as my depression, made my mom step down. Nowadays, I let my mom know bluntly that I am in absolute control over my life and it isn’t her place to tell me what I should do in the future, what activities I should participate in, which colleges I should apply to, or how I should set limits for myself. If letting her know the harsh truth is the price to pay for my desired freedom, then so be it. </p>
<p>I find the article to be grotesquely hideous. Not only does it encourage the bad Asian stereotype, but it also shows a nasty pride in restricting the happiness and freedom of children. It’s unfortunate that so many Asian parents are not understanding what is true success. Their children are the ones who suffer, even if they are indoctrinated into believing that their lives are great. They just pay too much opportunity costs.</p>
<p>This article terrified me and made me appreciate my own Chinese mother for not being insane. She is like that mother in some aspects but not the insane ones (no friends, threating to donate a 6 year old’s toys to salvation army, no extracurriculars).</p>
<p>Huh? How can this not be satire? I don’t think there’s any way that any Asian mom could actually be that stereotypically cruel, even though most of the people I know are Asian. Some of their moms are pretty strict, but this is just strange.</p>
<p>I’m virtually positive this is satire. I think the point of the article was to explain some of the reasoning that Chinese parents use, but imo she did it very poorly.</p>
<p>I wasn’t sure whether it was satire or not, but that woman was crazy! I feel so bad for her poor husband. I am half Chinese, and I am so fortunate that my dad is not like that. I sincerely hope it was satire- if not, I feel EXTREMELY sorry for her kids.</p>
<p>I’m Asian but I’m the younger child and my parents do not act anywhere close to that with me. For my older brother (he’s six years older than me) he was treated somewhat like how the article describes. I remember my Dad would make my brother mow the lawn with him (we have a pretty big lawn and the smaller more labor inducing lawnmower) when he was 8 years old, and it was basically child labor…if he asked to stop, my Dad would just be like “toughen up.” Another instance is when my brother loved Hershey’s chocolate and so my Dad forced him to eat massive amounts of chocolate until he was physically sick and hated it. There was a lot of other abuse that went on (now my parents have completely changed). My brother is an amazing guy and excels academically…he always took/takes the hardest classes, double major/double minor in college. However, these days his relationship with my parents is pretty screwed up. Basically he sees my parents supporting him with money, and him satisfying them with the good grades…that is the extent of their relationship and what he has always seen it as. I know this is probably pretty typical for college kids but he is completely reluctant to communicate with my parents unless absolutely necessary. My brother is also pretty unconfident in social aspects…my parents were similar to the woman in the article, never letting him hang out with friends or anything.</p>
<p>I’m grateful for the change my parents have made. They still show glimpses of “asian” parenting in occasional unreasonableness…but they have come so far from the Taiwanese culture engrained in their brains. I’m an extremely social girl, A/B’s, and I’m so grateful for the experimentation my parents have allowed me…instead of forcing me to practice the piano, they encouraged me trying something else in addition (flute which failed, then percussion/marching band now) and a lot of other things. I hope parents can begin to think less narrow mindedly and hopefully change their ways.</p>
<p>that mother is crazy. I come from an Asian family myself, and while my parents were strict on me getting good grades throughout primary and secondary school (my mom used to hit me whenever she saw anything lower than a B on my report cards. Now she doesn’t care, lol), they weren’t bat**** crazy like that mother.</p>
<p>The asian bit was what my parents did to me until 6th grade, then they loosened their grip and i started goofing around but, by 8th grade, they tightened the grip again and i toughened up. I got alot smarter and at the end of the day, i’m thanking them for it. </p>
<p>When 9th grade,rolled around, my parents just chilled out once they saw that i didn’t need their guidance. </p>
<p>-------All my friends with Lax parents are idiots so i think when i’m older that, i’ll push my kids to the limit in everything. (Academic, Sports, and ECs). I honestly don’t care if they don’t like me, they’ll thank me eventually.</p>