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Ruth Everhart

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Tiger Mother

January 25, 2011 By Ruth Everhart 2 Comments

I can’t recall a book that has gotten as much publicity as Amy Chua’s Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Clicking that link will bring you to an excerpt (in case you somehow missed the hubbub). What are my thoughts?

1. I don’t believe that something is fun only when you’re good at it and therefore we must push push push to be the best so that we can then love that thing. I believe it’s the other way around: when we love something we are motivated to push ourselves to be the best.

2. I don’t believe that children have to achieve a certain standard — of anything — to be successful in a parents’ eyes. I believe in unconditional love, which means that we are loved before we are lovable.

3. I don’t believe parents should try to mold their children according to some notion of success, whatever that might be. I believe the process of parenting is a process of discovery, support, and challenge, done with the goal to equip the child to be successful at being whoever God created them to be.

4. I don’t believe it makes sense to publish a book that says provocative things and then, in the ensuing media storm, act surprised and misunderstood. I believe that we reap what we sow, and I also believe that Ms. Chua thoroughly understands this dynamic.

And no, I won’t buy the book because I can connect the dots between a book’s purchase price and an author’s profits.

Words & Writing book review,  family

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. rap songs get over broken heart says

    January 29, 2011 at 6:03 pm

    I’m just wondering if it’s viable to copy a paragraph of this article to use for my school project.

    Reply
  2. MaryAnn says

    January 25, 2011 at 4:12 pm

    All I know is, I want her publicist.

    Granted, when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. But I’ve been pretty steeped in systems language lately, and in reading about this flap for the past two weeks I keep thinking, “She doesn’t sound very self-differentiated.”

    Reply

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