Tiger Parenting
In Amy Chua‘s eyes, her way of raising her two daughters was the right way. What Chua didn’t know was that her way of raising a child was raising a lot of eyebrows. Amy’s Chinese way of parenting consisted of high expectations, lots of rules, cruel punishments, and criticizing her children. When Amy Chua wrote a book about tiger parenting, it opened a lot off eyes but also angered most of the parent readers. So in this paper I looked at two articles that responded to what Amy had written about. Reading Newsweek and Psychology Today, I’ve noted that they were two totally different points of views but had some similarities. Newsweek differed because it was more of a personal perspective, while Psychology Today was more an actual research study. In Psychology Today, Kevin Arnold, goes deeper into other studies that were conducted, when Newsweek summarizes the book for those that didn’t read it. The Psychology Today disagreed with the way Amy was raising her daughters, Kevin states that the way Amy treats her children was controlling, demanding, and unresponsive. The writer in the Newsweek article included quotas from Amy herself. One similar point was that parents should be able to raise their children the way they want.
I would of thought that this popular magazine, Newsweek, would have had some solutions but it didn’t, Psychology Today had some recommendations. In Psychology Today, Kevin Arnold and his wife talked with Kenneth Ginsburg, a well known pediatrician, and he made it clear to let a child make decisions their self. When a child makes their own decisions, it’s more likely that a child will bounce back from stress and disappointment. The Dr. also mentioned that if you try not to yell and ask a child what they did wrong it’s more likely that the child will give the right answer, then try not to do wrong again. Teach your child how to think for themselves, it will be a life- long skill.
In the research study it states that parents should set high expectations, not to high, but high enough for their children. Communication is anyways the key in any type of relationship, rather it being parent and child, manager and co-worker, student and teacher…ect. Parents should encourage independence at an early age without neglect being an issue. Without be pushy, let your child know you want them to succeed rather than lowering their self-esteem when they fail at something. With this approach it takes more time but is more successful in the long run.
In the future to prevent negative publicity don’t revile disturbing parenting details. In Psychology Today, Kevin states that “Aggressive Parenting is not good parenting.” You should not limit your child socially. To ensure achievement it best not to use coercion and fear to motivate compliance.
Both the articles didn’t say anything about any law, polices, programs or regulations about this issue. In Newsweek Amy Chua states “People shouldn’t judge me because there are parents out there that treat their kids worse than I. If I were such a bad parent why am I not in jail? ”
After reading these articles I’m torn between the two, because I feel that a parent should be able to raise their children as they please. Although some of the things that Amy did to her girls was kind of harsh, such as making her three year old stand in the cold as a punishment, she was rising them the way she was raised. I feel that Amy’s downfall was that she was trying to over achievers without giving her daughters time to progress. You can have aggressive parenting without excelling to tiger parenting.
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