My Own Tiger Mom

Samuel Sugimoto

Section A01

My Own Tiger Mom

            For myself and many other children of first generation Asian American parents, the “Tiger Mom” upbringing existed as a “normal” way of growing up.  My personal experience with my Mother is very much in line with the stereotype: took piano lessons for almost twelve years, know how to play the violin (though I picked up the violin at my own discretion), pushed into getting good grades since elementary school and finally coerced into becoming an electrical engineer (though I have come to enjoy the material).  During my childhood my mother only had one requirement of me: “Bring back straight A’s, if you can consistently do that then do whatever you want in your spare time.  Until then you must spend your free time studying”.  While the tiger mom upbringing is seen as strict, controlling and detrimental to a child’s well-being by American parents, I feel that this upbringing saved me from being an absolute sloth of a human being given that I used to have almost no self-motivation.

The American image of a Tiger Mom