Kimberly Pariyavanh

ASA 02, A03

Week 9

12 November 2015

Response to “Why I love my Strict Chinese Mom”

            I decided to read this article because this would be my first time to read from the perspective of the child who has a “tiger mom”. Most articles that I have read about this topic usually focus on the parenting styles and opinions of other parents. It was refreshing to read this new perspective and I found myself relating to many of the things that Sophia wrote. My mom’s parenting was not on the same level as Sophia’s mother and I would not necessarily call her a “tiger mom”, but due to language barriers and being busy with work my mom was never involved with my educational life much. At times, it felt scary because I wanted a push in the right direction like I saw all my friends receiving. Although my mom was not involved much, she still expected success in academics and other areas of our life from my brothers and I. I remembering one morning she was lecturing and she said to us in English, “Learn with your heart”. She essentially meant to always give everything 100%. Similar to Sophia, I can see the value in putting in effort to produce a successful outcome.

Question: With all the parenting styles that exist, is there one that is perfect and guarantees a “good” child? Does environment affect how children react to parenting styles?