Text: Textbook p.18-19.pdf
Thesis: Nothing is fun until you’re good at it
- being good at something requires work, which the child won’t do on their own
- repetition
- once they’re good at it, they will get praise and admiration which will make that activity fun
Western parenting:
- anxious about their children’s self-esteem and mental health
- your kids owe you nothing → “they can’t choose their parents”
- more permissive
- leads to mediocrity because children are praised for even mediocre achievements
Chinese parenting:
- strict
- not concerned about child’s mental health → assume strength, not fragility
- demand perfection because parents believe their child can achieve it → failure comes from not working hard enough
- your children owe you everything
- parents know what’s best for their children and hand them their preferences and desires
The extract from the book “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” by Amy Chia, first published in 2011 by Penguin Press describes a parenting method Chia calls “Chinese parenting” and compares it to another method she calls “Western parenting”, representative for parenting methods in most Western countries.
Chia bases the Chinese parenting off of the thesis that nothing is fun until you’re good at it. Being good at something requires work and repetitive practice, which the child should be forced to do because it won’t do it on their own. But once they are good at something it will be fun, so all of this leads to the child’s success and is for their own good.
She illustrates 3 main following differences between the 2 styles:
Firstly, Chinese parents think that