Tiger Moms? What about Yaks?

I just read the article about "Tiger Moms" in Time Magazine. It was the cover story. A cover story about parenting... and not just in Parenting or Fit and Pregnant but in Time! Insert appropriate nonsensical sound here. Color me excited!

To re-cap the article, a Chinese-American woman and Yale Law Professor, Amy Chua, wrote a memoir entitled Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, in which she describes her harsh, strict, traditional Chinese parenting style. Since it is a published memoir and since it is not mouldering in some long-forgotten corner of her study, you can be assured that her style of parenting is extreme. Extremely extreme. And, as such, it has gotten a LOT of press (hence, Time Magazine) and a lot of negative buzz on the Internet. Many mothers have responded emotionally, by calling Chua a "monster." Time, however, in true devil's advocate fashion, has decided to take the "maybe this is necessary because America is falling behind in the world on so many levels" approach. The article that follows Chua's is titled "Tiger Daughter ~ An American in Shanghai reports: I'm glad my kid has a tiger mom."

Now before we all jump on the "tiger bandwagon" and start enforcing perfection and high expectations, I'd like to mention a few things.

1. Look into two Chinese-American authors ~ Maxine Hung Kingston and Amy Tan. They tell a completely different story in relation to the "traditional" Chinese parenting style. (And they're fabulous writers too!) It's important to get lots of points of view when considering altering one's philosophy.

2. Have you ever considered the idea that America, as a country, may have an identity crisis and a lack of self-esteem? I mean, we go around wielding our clubs and making a lot of fuss and racket but spend an inordinate amount of time comparing ourselves to others. I wonder if France does that. Or Great Britain. Or China. Why do we make such a big stink about our values and the need to uphold them around the world while constantly trying to be like everyone else? Why can't we just be ourselves? Why is the "traditional Chinese parenting style" of such interest to us? We're not Chinese.

3. Remember, these children, your children, are going to be looking after you in your old age. And, unlike China, which is culturally-conditioned to honor and revere the elders of the family, America is all about the shiny and new. Elders are only barely tolerated and that's mostly because they have an excellent lobbying force in Washington. If you don't want to end up in the cheapest nursing home in your town, you might re-think being a "Tiger Mom." After all, what goes around, comes around!