Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

Over the
past two weeks I have finally managed to read the much hyped book Battle Hymn
of the Tiger Mother. For those not familiar this is the story of Amy Chua, an
American woman of Chinese descent, who chooses to raise her two daughters in a traditional,
overbearing Chinese manner.
Last year
when this book was released there was much controversy over the manner in which
Chua raised her daughters Sophia and Lulu. Making a young girl spend hours
practicing the piano and barring breaks for food, water and the toilet, sending
another outside into the snow because she refused to practice the piano,
rejecting a birthday card from a then four year old daughter because not enough
time and effort were put into it seemed to horrify most readers and the casual observer
who learnt about Tiger Mother in the
press. For mine the major emotion that came out whilst reading the book was one
of humour. I found the book funny. A browse through the web about this book
states that it is a comedy. A lot of people may question the comedic value of
banning young girls from play dates, sleep overs etc. but I generally found the
book to be funny.
Amy Chua
must have had a full realization of what was going to occur when this book was
published. Yes she would be branded evil, outrageous and barbaric but she
strikes me as the type of person who doesn’t seem to be overly worried about
these feelings. Chua seems the type of person who loves the publicity and is
strong willed enough to handle the backlash that came her way. She would relish
the opportunity to justify in the media her parenting philosophies.
Whilst
reading I was also struck by the passiveness of her American born husband Jed.
He was not raised in a Chinese background and appeared to turn out absolutely
fine as he is a Yale law professor, so why let his wife take this approach to
his daughters? Throughout the book he raises an eyebrow or voices some level of
disapproval towards his wife’s methods yet he does not ever truly stand up or
overrule her. Jed obviously wants his daughters to succeed in life and seeing
how successful his wife is, he is happy to let Amy implement her parenting
plans.
The younger
of the girls Lulu (Louisa) is a real live wire. She despises her mother’s
methods and often stubbornly refuses to do what she is told. As a reader I love
this and find myself urging her on in her rebellion. Deep down though Lulu
wants to succeed, loves her mother and therefore goes along with the majority
of what she is asked to do. It will be fascinating to see when these girls become
parents themselves if they choose to undertake the same method of parenting as
they were raised in.
I myself
currently find myself in a battle with my 8 year old daughter about learning
her times tables. She is being a little stubborn and pig headed about memorizing
these multiplication facts. It is really the only time in my life where I find
myself wanting to implement Chua’s techniques. I know they will work but I may
lose the love of my daughter during the implementation.
I was
telling the class I teach yesterday about this book. Yes they were horrified
about the stories I was telling them. Sadly though one or two of my students
nodded their head as they could relate to what occurred in the book. This is
sad but we leave in Hong Kong, a city of high expectations, no matter what the
age.
I do
encourage you to read Battle Hymn. It is thought provoking, controversial,
cringe worthy but most of all funny. I would love to know what you think.