Though I do highly recommend the book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom (by Amy Chua) to parents, do know that I do not personally recommend this very extreme style of parenting (that is not the purpose of motivating you to read this book). That being said, I do find this book to be insightful in a number of areas and an overall thought-provoking read, besides being entertaining in many ways. There is much to learn from this book, whether or not you embrace all, some or even none of what it says. I strongly believe that as parents we do need to regularly reflect on the choices we make when it comes to parenting. Often times we do things as parents because that was how it was done by our parents (even at times, without questioning its legitimacy or effectiveness). It's just what comes natural to us. Sometimes we make an intentional choice to do things a different way from our own parents, a better way... as we see it. Either way, we need to view what we do as parents in a more serious way as our choices will affect our children directly for years to come. This book will certainly cause you to check your choices and will also challenge you to set yourself on a course that calls for higher expectations for yourself and for your children. It presents this style even while trying to give an honest portrayal of the difficulties in executing such parenting extremes. It will even call you to do so through the sacrifice of your time, money and energy, all for a greater good - your child's future. Read it and share with me what you think. Read it and then analyze your own choices to understand your ultimate motives for doing it your own way. In the end, you may even make one or more key changes that will be of great benefit to your child/children for years to come. Here is an excerpt from the book that was printed as an article in the Wall Street Journal on Jan 8, 2011, prior to the book being published: Why Chinese Mothers are Superior Mr. Rojas |
For Parents > Teacher Blog >