in college i had a gig as the lifeguard at the Student Center pool. every Wed night, twins,Winston and Elizabeth Chow were brought in by their mother and made to jump into the deep end.

Winston and Elizabeth could not swim worth a damn. water terrified them. as soon as i saw them come onto the pool deck, all ghost white, cold, skinny and shaking like leaves, i climbed down from the tower chair, got the long pole off the wall, let it out for them to grab onto and hauled their asses in.

many nights Winston would forget to take his glasses off and they would go to the bottom and i would retrieve them. he was alway so appreciative

i may be a slacker instead of a brain surgeon, like Winston’s mother insisted he would be, but if he is, at least i helped him survive the journey.

you can gen your own tiger-mom meme. BuzzFeed has a bunch displayed. the Bob&Ray of Asian chixxx, Jen&Diane, aka disgrasian have a good review on their website.

Most Chinese kids don’t even flinch when they read about how strict she was, although not having play dates or sleepovers seems a little extreme. Not every Chinese mother is as extreme as Chua was, but many are strict over different things. IMHO most parents now are way too easy on their kids.

Of course her daughter will support her mom’s views. She’s probably scared to death of her!

She’s a tyrant. Her kids will probably resent her later in life, and transfer her tyrannical ways to the way they treat their own kids… by then her husband will have surely left her for a woman who doesn’t mind him holding onto his own balls. She probably keeps his in a drawer, LOL!

I grew up with Japanese parents. My dad was only second generation, so he was a bit more of a tradionalist than my mom. While I felt my dad was a disciplinarian in our family, he never ever did say he “expected” us to be a doctor, lawyer or whatever profession which might be deemed highly respected. Instead, we were expectecd to do well in school, not get into trouble (bring shame to the family like get arrested) and find something we loved to do as a profession. It might surprise a lot of people because they think that Asian parents are very hard on their children. Yes, my dad and to some extent my mom was hard on my brother and I. But never did they deny us things like sleepovers, playtime with friends, extracurricular activities, etc. So I was never the greatest flute player, but it didn’t stop my parents from purchasing a flute for me. I doubt if they used Ms. Chua’s method I would have gotten any better. With my own children, I am the disciplinarian in the family. But this is in the sense that I want my sons to grow up to be respectable young men. My oldest son (4) is already hard on himself when he cannot figure things out. He gets mad and frustrated. It is not because we push him but rather he pushes himself. Is that not a better way? I think it is funny that my mother tells me not to push him too much. She worries about things like kids commiting suicide because their parents push them. I would much rather have a son who has self-motivation and self-pride rather than one who has to fit himself into what I want him to be. This past fall he played soccer. So he wasn’t the best player on the field, and maybe soccer isn’t the sport for him. But he had fun, learned a lot and maybe someday he’ll find it’s the game for him. I, as a parent, love him and will continue to support him in whatever endeavors he decides to take.