Battle Hymn Of The Tiger Mom Analysis

If I were to count the amount of times I have butted heads with my mom over something small, the numbers are immeasurable; our relationship are quite different from others. Born and raised in an Asian family, my mom is an excellent example of a stereotypical Asian parent. She relies heavily on the oldest and expects excellent results in grades. In Asian culture, mothers wanting their children to be better than others is a typical behavior. Stressfully, the demands fall on the oldest child, which I have trouble dealing with. I cannot explain the reasons why, but my mom is living proof of it. Over time, however, I learned to accept the reasons behind her expectations.

Many parents have different ways of raising their children to become successful. In the article “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” Amy Chua explains how Chinese parenting are better than western parenting. While in the article “Mother Inferior” Hanna Rosin explains that western parenting is a better ways of raising their children. Both think that their method of raising their child are better than the others. While both authors discuss parenting, they differ in the way they praise their child, the ways they punish their child, and the manner they speak to the child.

Sometimes people don’t realize how much their decisions and choices can effect others around them. Parenting is one of these such cases. The thought of having to raise children is loved by many people, but it is often a feared reality. Many people don’t see themselves as being capable of being a parent, even though they are very capable of being a good parent. Some of the best examples of good parenting fall into the book To Kill a Mockingbird. In this book, Atticus Finch is a loving father who is raising two children, Jem and Scout. He is often a misunderstood individual and is frowned upon by many in his town. By looking at the examples of Atticus Finch’s parenting style, it can be seen how he is a good, loving father to his children who teaches them the proper way in which they should go.

A good parent has to provide for their child on an emotional basis and beyond. In some of the works of literature we read, qualities of a good parent became apparent. There is no such thing as a perfect parent. Parents need to make mistakes to learn for themselves and set a good example for their children. Balance is a major key in parenting. Without balance in life the scales can tip and a child may not develop in a healthy manner. Some parents can never be classified as “good” simply because they let their problems or outside issues obstruct care for their

The permissive parenting style best exemplifies Rex and Rosemary Walls’ parenting because they rarely discipline their children, they act more like their kids friends than their parents, and they do not believe in their children’s success. Rex and Rosemary didn’t concern themselves when punishing their children for doing bad things. “It was self -defense, I piped. Dad had always said that self- defense was a justifiable reason for shooting someone” (89). Most parents would have punished their children for shooting someone, so parents who wouldn’t are considered permissive parents. The walls parents consider themselves to be their kids’ friend rather than a concerned parent. “’ Good for you, Mom said when she saw me cooking. You’ve got to get right back on the saddle”’ (15)… Friends tend to encourage you to do stupid things but in this situation Jeannette’s mother is the one encouraging her to do something not so bright. Rex and Rosemary do not expect their kids to become any greater than they are. “That’s my girl! Dad said with a hug, then barked orders at us all to speed things up” (17). They show their kids what they believe to be a good life, and they don’t let their children think anything negative about it because that if their

“If we never give our children permission to get things wrong...they’re unlikely to ever learn how to get things right” (Glass and Tabatsky xxi). Jennifer Finney Boylan discusses in The Overparenting Epidemic that when parents try to drive their child to be perfect and do not allow them to make mistakes, it usually results in children who fear taking risks or failing. Helicopter parents become too invested in the lives of their children by doing their best to prevent their child from experiencing failure or danger in any way. Although they believe that they are preventing their child from feeling sad or disappointed, they are actually causing destruction, damaging the child’s self esteem and creating trust issues. These hyper-vigilant parents, or over involved, restrict their child’s freedom as a result of having a fear based perspective on the world which causes the child to have anxiety and create the same fear.

In Amy Tan’s short story, “Two Kinds,” she demonstrates the powerful, harmful effect of a parent's’ high expectations and how it can be detrimental to one’s child. Parents want to give what’s best for their kids and will go through any necessary means to obtain that. Whether it be through change of environment or change of behavior for the child, parents blindlessly strive towards that goal without a second thought. Expectations may arise along the way as parent’s form an idolized idea of what they want as their child. Much to Jing-mei’s chagrin, her mother believes that shaping her into a superstar will grant her the happiness and recognition she deserves. “...my mother thought I could be a Chinese Shirley Temple.” (383): By enforcing an idea that her daughter needs to conform to her standards, she slowly sets the idea that her daughter must lose any sense of her own originality to fit to her mother’s standards or imitate what brings people success. By obeying that mindset, people do not have a sense of identity and may face serious consequences if they can not fulfil a “simple” task.

Nil’s neglected son experienced a very brief period of an innocent and blithe lifestyle; however, the baby in Carver Raymond’s “Popular Mechanics” is robbed of its adolescence almost immediately. This short story hyperbolizes the effects that a broken relationship has on a child. The couple fights over possession of the child, the woman thinking, "She would have it, this baby" (Carver 1). Throughout the story, the infant is referred to as an “it”, which implies that the baby’s parent’s view him or her as an object rather than a precious life. In the parents’ vain desire to prevail over one other, concern for the child’s safety completely vacates the their minds. As they continue their struggle, the child’s wails grow louder and louder. They

Levitt and Dubner classify Freakonomics as a book having “no such unifying theme” (14), but all the unique topics discussed throughout the text connect back together in order to show the hidden side of human nature. The argument that the wide variety of topics and their abstract descriptions all link together draws the attention of a large audience and connects to issues that society is currently facing or has recently confronted.

A mother in today’s society sole purpose is to be there for her kids. She is supposed to teach them what is wrong from right, and also cater to her children’s needs. However, the actions of mothers worldwide are criticized due to society not fully understanding the decisions the parents have made on behalf of their children. In Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior, the mother-daughter relationship is not an understanding one. This is because the daughter was raised in America while the mother was raised in China. They grew up with two different perspectives of the norm, and it impacted their relationship drastically. Out of their relationship, however, the daughter picked up on her mother’s talent of telling stories. In Dorothy Allison’s

Kieu Tran’s solemn tone reflects on the hardships that Americanization has caused Asians through the context of “the stereotype that Asian parents always hit their children” and how “Western culture and customs have destroyed the Vietnamese family structure”. Tran expresses how Americanization has given asian children more freedom, but in turn it has devastated the structure of a close-knit family. The U.S. is the land of the free, where people are protected by the law, and hitting your children is unjust. However, in asian culture, it is natural for a child to be reprimanded through spanking, hitting, or other forms of punishment. It ensures that children of asian parents will try their best to not make the same mistake again. In the U.S.

Annette Lareau researched the connections between social class position of family members including children and the uneven outcomes of their experiences outside the home as they interact with professionals in dominant institutions (Lareau, 2002) such as teachers, doctors, judges and police officers. Lareau’s researched revealed that middle class parents practiced concerted cultivation parental style which enabled their children to reap wanted outcomes from dominant professionals and working/poor parents practiced accomplishment of natural growth parental style which enabled their children to reap unwanted outcomes from dominant professionals. Concerted cultivation is a term coined by Annette Lareau to describe a parenting approach

“Ohana means family, and family means no one gets left behind” (Lilo, Lilo and Stitch). Family, one of the few things in life that you are born with. Family, your one safe place when it may feel like the world is against you. Family, and parents in particular, are always there to look out for you. They do a lot for you, from when you’re born all the way up to until you leave the house and start living on your own. Good parenting skills are essential to put children on the right track. Whether it’s being there when they’re going through a rough time in life or helping with picking out the right college, their impact is huge on their child’s life, for the moment at hand and for the individual's future.

We live in a complex, unpredictable world, filled with an array of family styles and personalities. Whether or not we recognize it, the family in which one is raised or currently resides plays a pivotal role in their development and opportunities. While we should not blame our circumstance on where we came from, it is crucial that we understand how our childhood influences why we are the way we are. One phenomenon that affects several families, particularly ones with low-income, is parentification. Parentification, also known as the role-reversal of a parent and a child, is not inherently harmful for a child, but it is important to look at the situation objectively and consider the risk-factors.

Amy Chua, a professor at Yale Law School, has created an article called Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother that intensively describes differences in the usage of parenting methods in Chinese and Westerners culture. The author has personally raised her children in a highly strict manner so her children succeed in life and academics. Chua often refers to the term “Chinese mother” that describes her parenting style apart from Western parents. The main purpose of this article is to show the two parenting techniques and how they affect the child 's success. Amy Chua’s intense Chinese mother style is extremely hard on children.