My wife grew up in Vietnam, and I can attest to the fact that she had a much more restrictive childhood than I did. All the freedoms that I loved as a teenager

My wife grew up in Vietnam, and I can attest to the fact that she had a much more restrictive childhood than I did. All the freedoms that I loved as a teenager, she had none of them. Her parents rode hard on her and her 8 brothers and sisters. The male siblings had much more freedom, though, and I believe there was more "rebellion" among them. On the issue of "authority of adults", her culture takes it to ridiculous heights, though. In any argument, the person that is older wins. That means your sister who is 2 years older than you wins, no matter what, because of that 2 yr margin. When I look at the difference in the bonds between children and parents, in her culture the bond is primarily held together by guilt. Rather than talk of the extremes, the US on one side and some Asian cultures on the other, I think I'd prefer the middle-of-the-road of some European cultures. The Dutch, for example, seem to have a happy medium.