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vishnu_r1 's review for:
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
by Amy Chua
Not many people seem to get that the book has a lot of hyperbole. A lot of what the author writes about are not meant to be taken as advice or advocating one system of parenting or the other. In fact I'd go as much as to say this is not a book on parenting advice. This is not a book about life growing up as an immigrant in America. This is not a book about family values. This is not a book that gives parenting advice. This is simply a book on how she brought up her kids and where she did right and where she did wrong. She's honest about it too. She did take some extreme measures when raising her kids and she admits it too. People have to read her daughters' response to the criticisms to really understand this.
A lot of criticism seems to be from western readers who seem to take the book quite literally or as parenting advice. I have the same question to them - what is wrong in expecting your kids to excel at what they do? Western concepts of 'having fun' are overrated. What the kids need is to be prepared to face the hard slog that life usually is and not have incorrect and sometime dangerous ideas about how easy and fun things will be in life if they simply follow their passion. I do agree (so does the author) that a one-size-fits-all strategy doesn't suit all parents and kids. Each kid's individual needs and personalities need to be taken into account. But we shouldn't be satisfied to be mediocre. If we are, then that, in my opinion, is what being selfish parents is all about.
A lot of criticism seems to be from western readers who seem to take the book quite literally or as parenting advice. I have the same question to them - what is wrong in expecting your kids to excel at what they do? Western concepts of 'having fun' are overrated. What the kids need is to be prepared to face the hard slog that life usually is and not have incorrect and sometime dangerous ideas about how easy and fun things will be in life if they simply follow their passion. I do agree (so does the author) that a one-size-fits-all strategy doesn't suit all parents and kids. Each kid's individual needs and personalities need to be taken into account. But we shouldn't be satisfied to be mediocre. If we are, then that, in my opinion, is what being selfish parents is all about.