Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

-
Battle Hymn of the Tiger MotherBattle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I listened to this as an audio book read by the author. Now that it is over, I feel as though I am missing a friend. She told this story humorously and unapologetically. She was brutally honest even when it made her look like a raving lunatic. She explained why she was willing and compelled to parent the way she did. I admire her ability to stay true to her Chinese culture and parenting standards in the Western Culture she raised Sophie and Lulu in.

I learned some things, which I like more than being entertained. I think there is a lot of value to be found in the Chinese parenting model, even if I realize that personally, I could never maintain that level of control, nor would I want to. I respect Ms. Chua for her integrity in admitting to her readers that she was not always successful.  

It was a delightful book. It was even more delightful to have Amy Chua tell me this story in her own words and her own voice. Undoubtedly more entertaining that listening to Amy Chua read her first book, Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance – and Why They Fall.


View all my reviews

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

So many thoughts

-
As a young 21 - 22 year old senior in college, I drove around in my VW Golf, with a sign taped onto the glove box that said  "YOU ARE IN CONTROL."  Well, my fiance, soon to be husband, used to tease me and tell me that I needed to give birth to a "litter."  He was of the view that I had the same Type A personality that a cat has.  In his experience, cats mellowed out after they had their first litter.  This is not scientific mind you, just anecdotal.   I didn't mellow out any time soon, as I am sure the 4 step-children we had custody of within the first 6 months of our marriage can attest to.  I didn't mellow out for a long, long time.  Too long, in fact.  Bless those 4 beautiful children who had to endure my obsession to control them.  Not to be misunderstood, there were A LOT of things that we needed to get a handle on and control was the only way to go about it.  But I took farther than was necessary or healthy.  "Little General" became my hu
Read more

A Mother's Day Letter to My Kids

-
Dear all of you, Last year I had a thought or impression, maybe. I felt like I wanted to send you guys a letter to tell you my thoughts about Mother's Day. Well the day, week, month and year came and went, and I never did. This year, same impression. This time I'm responding to that impression.  My path to motherhood was slightly different than most. Four kids within a few weeks of being married and then 5 of my own. Mothering is hard work. And strangely, nobody bothers to actually tell you how hard it is. Mothering is also the most rewarding thing I can think of ever doing.  I used to hate Mother's Day. It's not uncommon. Gather 20 mothers together, ask them to discuss mother's day and I would be willing to bet more than 1/2 of them hate it. The reasons vary. We are all different.  I could drone on and list the reasons I "hated" mother's day. They were all selfish and self-pitying. Therefore, not worth mentioning. Those of you who are
Read more

S*&#t I let my kids and their friends do

-
Image
In honor of this blog post:  http://pintsizedtreasures.com/games-my-kids-are-not-allowed-to-play/ Here is a list of a few of the things I let (or watched) my kids and their friends do:  -Ride a Yamaha 90 cc dirt bike without shoes or helmets (starting at approx. 12-years old) -Ride a Honda Metropolitan scooter without shoes or helmets (starting at approx. 12-years old) -Play tag around the neighborhood with friends on aforementioned dirt bike and scooter -Stack lawn chairs as high as they can and jump off onto trampoline -Have 10 people on the trampoline at a time (only one rule: big kids can't jump with little kids) -Running jump off elevated retaining wall onto trampoline -Douse tennis balls with gasoline, light them on fire, send them through the pitching machine and hit them with either bats or tennis rackets -Play with balls (all makes and models) in the house -Make soda bottle bombs with dry ice - BTW you need to be 18 years old to buy dry ice -Hold firecr
Read more