Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

This was one of the books that was mentioned in the post "Disturbing things I read", and after thinking about it, I got my mom to buy it.

This book is definitely an interesting read.... and I found out, that it's satire, and many parts are exaggerated (thank goodness). This book is another one of the books that everyone has an opinion on, and quite a lot of people think that they're mom's are worse (we'll... we are Singaporean).

I really think the title of the book is a misnomer. The mom isn't so much Chinese (because, as she admits it, anyone of any nationality can be a 'Chinese Mom'), but more of 'Kiasu'. But I supposed that calling the book "The Battle Hymn of the Kiasu Mom" doesn't have the same ring. On a side note, the title reminds me of the Hymn "Battle Hymn of the Republic", although their contents are far from similar. And to digress even further, I found out, reading the book, that her husband is the author of "An Interpretation of Murder". My reaction was O.O, because that book is seriously good.

I brought the book to school to read, and my EE supervisor saw it, she actually asked me "So is your mom a tiger mom? Because you're quite high achieving". I had to reveal to her that I'm actually an appeal case, so I'm not high achieving at all. But that set me thinking, is my mom a tiger mom?

I'm going to have to say no. Although my mom and Mrs Chua does have some similarities, for instance, when I was two, my mom locked me out of the house in winter (we were in England at that time). I was actually wearing less than what Lulu was wearing... But, even my mom thinks that what Amy Chua does (such as tearing up the cards her kids made for her - I hope that it's one of the exaggerations), is way too extreme. Plus, my mom doesn't force us to study that hard (well, she did for my sister and I, but not my third sister, although she's stricter with my brother). Ok, maybe she does, but she doesn't really use emotional blackmail.

So, what's the best way to raise a child? The Biblical way of course! I'm just going to quote two verses, which I think sums up the best way to raise a child (speaking as a child now, I should know):

Ephesians Chapter 6 Verses 2-3 says "Honour your father and Mother - Which is the first commandment with a promise. So that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on earth" (NIV Translation). This is actually one of the few, if not the only verses that I know in Chinese (which I think sounds more poetical), which, unfortunately due to my really poor abilities to write Chinese (and I have no idea how to turn this to Chinese....), I can't write.

Ephesians Chapter 6 Verse 4 says "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord". (NIV Translation)