Tiger Moms?

Bee Lee

Section 2

Week 9

                                                                                     

Tiger Moms?

       I was rather quite surprised reading, “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” by Amy Chua and “Why I love my strict Chinese mom” by Sophia Chua-Rubenfield. It wasn’t until this quarter when I heard of the term, “tiger mom.” Yes, I know. Where have I been? I don’t know either. However, the idea and concept of a tiger mom, I know quite very well. As I feel, most Asian mothers represent and are similarly like the tiger mom. But reading these two articles, I felt a bit sentimental. I detested the way Chua and my sort-of-tiger-Hmong-mom restricted their children and my siblings to certain kind of activities. However, I understand very well why Chua nurtures her children the way she does; it is to prepare her children for the future and to make them capable, skillful, and ready. Now, what got to me was when Chua-Rubenfield expressed how her tiger mom only prepared her for the future. It made her pushed herself to do more than she could and with that, she felt as if she could die feeling as if she lived her whole life completely. That, was because of her tiger mom.

The role of a tiger mom, in this case, proved to be an effective and positive way for Chua’s children to learn and grow. However, can the expectations of a tiger mom lead children to be ‘choking under pressure?’ What are the pros and cons of having a tiger mom? 

 [Let's pretend this is Kevjumba's mother :D]