Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior

Out of class

My friend, Jenny Yang, sent me this interesting article, "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior" by Amy Chua. In the article, Amy Chua talks about the Chinese parenting and how different it is from the Western parenting. When I read the article, I personally thought that it was funny, because of how common it was among Chinese parents. However, what really stroke me the most was this quote, "'You just don't believe in her,' I accused. 'That's ridiculous,' Jed said scornfully. 'Of course I do.'"

I never really thought about why Chinese parents are so strict to their children. I just thought that they were teaching their children according to how they were taught when they were young. I admit, I do think the way Amy Chua "motivated" Lulu to play "The Little White Donkey" is torture, but I was taken aback by the fact that she puts so much effort to make Lulu practice because she believes that Lulu has that ability to do so. This makes me think that, actually, Chinese parents think every highly of their children. They have high expectations because they think that their children are able to accomplish many things, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I think that makes us children strive for excellence even though when our parents do not force us anymore. We then believe in ourself that as long as we want something, we can do it.

Amy Chua says that many "Western parents are extremely anxious about their children's self esteem". On the other hand, Chinese parents "assume strength, not fragility, as as a result they behave very differently." I think it is very difficult to decide which parenting is the better of the two, because not all children brought up by Chinese parenting do not have a low self-esteem. We cannot decide solely based on facts and statistics. There should be a moderation between the two types of parenting, allowing the children to have the space to grow individually but also motivate them to do the best as they can.

Source of image: http://www.asianweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/chua.jpg