5 ms·

I wish this tiger mom thing would just die. It's so embarrassing for Asian people that didn't have insane parents.

farout 16y ago
Wow that is harsh. When I read her article, I shared it with my husband and my mom. My mom was shocked and saddened by it. My husband understood that she was essentially saying that she believed that her child could do it - like a coach who constantly pushes you because she believes in you even if you don't believe in yourself. I personally could not do this someone. However, it comes how to you convince someone that is worth the effort. There is an excellent book "Influencer: The Power to Change Anything" with great examples like curbing HIV transmission and eliminating guinea worm parasite. The bottom-line is the person who needs to do the change has to answer 2 questions essentially: Is this worth it? and am I really capable of doing it? For Amy's children she is answering question 2 for her children.
- barrkel 16y ago
  My GF read Amy's book just the other day. She found it hilarious - the book mocks this parenting method. It's not intended as serious advice.
- bad_user 16y ago
  like a coach who constantly pushes you Analogies to sports come up a lot, but the difference is playing football / soccer / tennis / whatever is fun and that's why you are there; eating crap from that coach is just a side-effect of you wanting to be better at something. On the other hand in the child / parent relationship described in that article, the kid doesn't have a choice. He cannot change coaches, he cannot pick another sport. Some children endure and in fact may turn out better. But others become depressed adults. And if there's one thing I know: I'm not a father that wants his boy growing up to be miserable. So I'll try pushing him when he lacks purpose, but whatever he likes doing I'll encourage him.
dailo10 16y ago
Not to mention the fact that in the book she ultimately rejects the harsh, forced approach.
- farout 16y ago
  besides being harsh - why does she reject it? Her reasons were that she showing that she believed in her children when they did not believe in themselves. Now I definitely have to read the book. I just read her wsj post.
- nandemo 16y ago
  That confirms my suspicion that Amy Chua's article was a most fine piece of trolling. She wrote outrageous things in the article thereby trolling thousands of parents into buying her book, i.e. the WSJ article was "link-bait" to her book. Even if you're a non-parent you might be drawn by the someone-is-wrong-on-internet effect into criticizing her claims, but she's got a simple answer ready for you: "buy my book".
  - SoftwareMaven 16y ago
    From what I've heard her say, she didn't do the final edits and was surprised by the WSJ take on her book as well (likely, her publisher was involved, though). She was on Colbert last week and seemed quite reasonable. She explicitly states it isn't a parenting book, it is a memoir about parenting, immigrants, and culture.
    - dpritchett 16y ago
      That's what I'd say too. It's nice to have a fall guy.
- jellicle 16y ago
  No, she doesn't. I've read the book and at no point does she ever reject her approach or believe it was less than the absolute perfect approach. Although she eventually allowed one of her daughters to stop practicing the violin with Carnegie Hall intensity, she regrets it and feels she failed.

Wow that is harsh. When I read her article, I shared it with my husband and my mom. My mom was shocked and saddened by it. My husband understood that she was essentially saying that she believed that her child could do it - like a coach who constantly pushes you because she believes in you even if you don't believe in yourself. I personally could not do this someone. However, it comes how to you convince someone that is worth the effort. There is an excellent book "Influencer: The Power to Change Anything" with great examples like curbing HIV transmission and eliminating guinea worm parasite. The bottom-line is the person who needs to do the change has to answer 2 questions essentially: Is this worth it? and am I really capable of doing it? For Amy's children she is answering question 2 for her children.

barrkel 16y ago
My GF read Amy's book just the other day. She found it hilarious - the book mocks this parenting method. It's not intended as serious advice.
bad_user 16y ago
like a coach who constantly pushes you Analogies to sports come up a lot, but the difference is playing football / soccer / tennis / whatever is fun and that's why you are there; eating crap from that coach is just a side-effect of you wanting to be better at something. On the other hand in the child / parent relationship described in that article, the kid doesn't have a choice. He cannot change coaches, he cannot pick another sport. Some children endure and in fact may turn out better. But others become depressed adults. And if there's one thing I know: I'm not a father that wants his boy growing up to be miserable. So I'll try pushing him when he lacks purpose, but whatever he likes doing I'll encourage him.

dailo10 16y ago

Not to mention the fact that in the book she ultimately rejects the harsh, forced approach.

farout 16y ago
besides being harsh - why does she reject it? Her reasons were that she showing that she believed in her children when they did not believe in themselves. Now I definitely have to read the book. I just read her wsj post.
nandemo 16y ago
That confirms my suspicion that Amy Chua's article was a most fine piece of trolling. She wrote outrageous things in the article thereby trolling thousands of parents into buying her book, i.e. the WSJ article was "link-bait" to her book. Even if you're a non-parent you might be drawn by the someone-is-wrong-on-internet effect into criticizing her claims, but she's got a simple answer ready for you: "buy my book".
- SoftwareMaven 16y ago
  From what I've heard her say, she didn't do the final edits and was surprised by the WSJ take on her book as well (likely, her publisher was involved, though). She was on Colbert last week and seemed quite reasonable. She explicitly states it isn't a parenting book, it is a memoir about parenting, immigrants, and culture.
  - dpritchett 16y ago
    That's what I'd say too. It's nice to have a fall guy.
jellicle 16y ago
No, she doesn't. I've read the book and at no point does she ever reject her approach or believe it was less than the absolute perfect approach. Although she eventually allowed one of her daughters to stop practicing the violin with Carnegie Hall intensity, she regrets it and feels she failed.