Does tiger parenting backfire?

[stressedouttt]

<p>What is especially fascinating is that in China, Amy Chua’s book “was being advertised as a ‘how to’ book designed to teach parents how to be more loving and understanding to their children.” (Chua’s own words).</p>

<p>More words from a tiger kid:

The Western parent puts emphasis on a child’s self-esteem, emotional well-being, and personal choices. To someone who is concerned with such values, which is not at all a bad thing, the author admitting that she openly called her daughter ‘garbage’ is enraging, shocking, and baffling. However, MY bewilderment came from what occured next: her friends ostracized her, shamed her, and one woman even left the house party crying. For the longest time, I couldn’t figure out why it was such a big deal. After all, I had been called much, much worse on a regular basis by my parents. To me and to every other kid I knew who had tiger parents, these words were just that: words. They had nothing to do with the parents’ affection for the child. In fact, this baffled me so much that I ask some of my Westernized friends…only to be greeted with more shock and sympathy I didn’t understand. Then one day it finally dawned on me as I observed how my friends’ parents interacted with them: Western parents are so afraid of hurting their children’s feelings that they would rather lie than make their child cry with the truth.

While it is overtly harsh to the “Western style of parenting,” I think it shows that tiger families are just as shocked by the Western reaction to tiger parenting as Westerners are shocked by tiger parenting itself.</p>