I was wary when my 2nd book club chose Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua. I remember the controversy it created when published and I wasn’t sure I wanted that karma in my life. Chua documents what it was like to apply Chinese Parenting to her daughters. I was horrified by her parenting style. I kept turn the pages, reading it quickly as if it were a terrifying Stephen King novel. It was like watching the train crash and being unable to turn away.
I saw childhood as a training period, a time to build character and invest for the future.”
She was demanding, mean-spirited and emotionally abusive toward her daughters. This is my evaluation of her. Her belief was
My goal as a parent is to prepare them for the future – not to make them like me.”
A humorous sub-story is about her family getting a dog.
Not knowing a thing about raising dogs, my first instinct was to apply Chinese parenting to Coco.”
but when she tried to apply Chinese parenting to the dog, Coco did not respond the way her daughters did. She had to resolve herself
It is perfectly fine for most dogs not to have a profession or even any special skill.”
Another point that fascinated me was that Chua is a year older than me. A peer was out there at the same time that I was raising my kids, treating her daughters the way she did.
The truth is I’m not good at enjoying life. it’s not one of my strengths.”
At the end of the book, she did write
My book is a satirical memoir. It’s intentionally self-incriminating.”
But the events in the book actually happened. I shudder at her parenting skills regardless of the results.
