Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is a publication by a United States law professor and writer known as Amy Chua. The narrative in the book is an experience of how a Chinese mother raises her two daughters. The book is controversial because most people perceive that it compares Western mothers (those in the United States) to Chinese mothers. The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother describes a Chinese mother as strict and uses traditional modes of punishment to raise children. As such, most readers, especially in America, believed that Chua was describing the Chinese parent as being superior to Western parents. Their stand may have originated from the point that Chua makes when she uses an example of how Chinese parents evaluate success. According to this study, higher performance in education is a reflection of good parenting. However, that is not the case because nurturing a child depends on several elements, including being strict.
There are a great number of differences between Western and Chinese mothers. The first one is how they define success and its role in an individual’s future. According to Chuang et al. (2018), being successful in education does not make children happy; however, if they participate in activities they find interesting, they would achieve positive results. Furthermore, the writer upholds the essence of an average but satisfied and happy child rather than having one who succeeds but eventually succumbs to depression. Contrarily, Amy Chua believes that Chinese mothers are better because, from the onset, they drill success into their children (Chua, 2012). They do so by exerting constant pressure on their young ones. Chua believes that children should not aim at being good at what they are doing, and instead seek to be the very best. In her opinion, a child’s success is a reflection of the parents’ nurturing method. As such, being average is not acceptable, and children must work extra hard to ensure they are the best.
The other variation between the Western and Chinese mothers concerns the importance of constricted rules. In her book, Chua implies that mothers must direct their children towards a definite path (Chua, 2012). As a result, these children never deviate from achieving their set targets. Thus, this is what is acceptable in the Chinese culture and this, according to Chua, is the best mode of parenting. She believes that this is where Western parents fail because they allow children to make important decisions concerning their lives. From the book, Chua mentions that Western children are thus free to decide whether to attain exceptional grades in their daily activities. In this case, these parents fail because they cannot intervene when the child performs poorly according to the parents’ standards. From Chua’s perspective, children must do every activity they decide to conduct, since that is the only way to be happy. In other words, the Chinese mother expects her child to be the best at everything, and failure is not an option.
The book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother creates a clear distinction between the Western and a Chinese mother. Chua states that a Chinese mother comprehends that children do not appreciate hard work (Chua, 2012). Therefore, they must be guided to ensure they achieve their goals in education and other areas such as sports. However, Chuang et al. (2018) believe that Western mothers are superior compared to Chinese mothers. In this case, the Western child is left to make decisions concerning different aspects of their life. However, the Western mother uses other modes or restrictions to guide the child’s success. They believe that, in some situations, children can resolve issues without the parents’ intervention. Furthermore, the Western mother appreciates the outcome of the child, whether it was good or bad. However, Chua disputes this by stating that the most important element in a child’s life is their outcome. As such, Chinese parents generally do not allow the child to learn from their mistakes. Failure is followed by strict punishment, which in the long run may harm the child.
The other distinction between the Chinese and the Western mother is the mode of guidance. In her book, Chua says, “I threatened her with no lunch, no dinner, no Christmas or Hanukkah presents, no birthday parties for two, three, four years…” (Chua, 2012, 61). She was trying to teach Lulu, her daughter, how to play the piano. She proceeds to defend this mode of guidance as being proven by most studies. Compared to the Western parent, this is recognized as harsh since the child is being forced to perform a task. From Chua’s point of view, playing “The Little White Donkey” on the piano was not just a task (Chua, 2012). It was something that Lulu needs to master as this would help her in the future. She needed to be the best at this and, therefore, threatening her daughters was the best way she could ensure they attained their goals. On the other hand, from the Western parenting position, a child would be allowed to play the piano only if they were interested.
Chua believes that Western parents have different goals for their children compared to Chinese parents. Chua has the opinion that Western parents perceive being strict with a child may cause self-esteem and psychological problems. However, she states that the Chinese view this as strengthening the child, and as a result, Chinese children are better behaved (Chua, 2012). Thus, Chua creates a list of activities that her children could not do. On the other hand, the Western mother has no list of restrictions, and their children could participate in any activity they wanted. Chua describes this as being lenient to a child and this defines their behavior in the long run. Western children are more entitled compared to Chinese children. Chua believes that in challenging situations, a Chinese child would be able to perform better than the Western child. The reason for this lies in the upbringing of the child: Chinese mothers are stricter and Western mothers are more lenient.
Despite these differences, there are some similarities between the Chinese mother and the Western mother regarding to their mode of parenting. Chua describes parenting as putting in place a harsh restriction on a child to ensure that they behave in a particular manner (Chua, 2012). Similarly, the Western mother, despite being lenient, has numerous restrictions that guide their children’s success or outcomes. For instance, measures such as time-outs are meant to punish inappropriate behavior among children in Western parenting. Comparably, the Chinese mother utilizes such measures as not allowing the child to have sleepovers with their friends. The only difference, in this case, is the way each parent considers the type of punishment. For instance, the Western parent would consider denying the child sleepovers with their friends as harsh punishment. On the other hand, the Chinese would consider time-outs as sparing the child.
The other similarity is that both the Chinese and the Western parents want their children to have the best outcome. To achieve these goals, they must intervene when they feel the child is making mistakes. According to research, a parent must guide their children to ensure that they grow to be respectable people in the community (Lei et al., 2018). Furthermore, Chua’s viewpoint is that the behavior of the child reflects on the parent. Thus, both the Chinese and the Western mother generally endeavor to ensure that their children grow up to be excellent members of society. To do so, they establish standard rules that children must follow. The only variation, in this case, is how each parent brings up their children.
The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is a perfect example of the difference between parenting styles. The book compares the Western parents and Chinese parents and how they raise their children. Furthermore, the narrative evaluates the different perceptions between the Western and the Chinese mother. For instance, the Western mother believes that Chinese parent is cruel. On the other hand, the Chinese mother perceives Western parenting as easy-going. Nevertheless, there are similarities between the two modes of taking care of children. The Chinese and the Western mother generally want better results from their children. Furthermore, they both agree that their children’s achievements and behavior are a reflection of their mode of parenting. The variation exists in how they carry out their parenting.
References
Chua, A. (2012). Battle hymn of the tiger mother. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Chuang, S. S., Glozman, J., Green, D. S., & Rasmi, S. (2018). Parenting and family relationships in Chinese families: A critical ecological approach. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 10(2), 367-383. Web.
Lei, H., Chiu, M. M., Cui, Y., Zhou, W., & Li, S. (2018). Parenting style and Aggression: A meta-analysis of Mainland Chinese children and youth. Children and Youth Services Review, 94, 446-455. Web.