Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior
Non-fiction analysis
How can you give your children the best upbringing as possible? Is it by being strict and fill their lives with rules? Or is it better to give them the opportunity to decide for themselves? Amy Chua would definitely choose the first option and in her article, “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” which is written in January 2011, we hear a lot about her grounds for why she thinks the first option is the right one.
Amy Chua who writes the article “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” is an approved lawyer and works as a professor at Yale Law School in USA. Already from that information we can guess that she is very well educated. She ...view middle of the document...
When Western parents are being strict they are just like a typical Chinese mother on a good day. The Western parents actually have no clue what being strict are like if you are asking Amy.
“The fact is that Chinese parents can do things that would seem unimaginable – even legally actionable – to Westerns. Chinese mothers can say to their daughters, “Hey fatty – lose some weight.”” (P. 7 lll. 65-67) Amy describes that Chinese parents has no limits when it comes to telling their children the true. One example from the article can be telling your children that they had gain a lot of weigh. In proportion to Western parents they are pure opposites - “By contrast, Western parents have to tiptoe around the issue, talking in terms of “health” and never ever mentioning the f-word, and their kids still end up in therapy for eating disorders and negative self-image” (P. 7 lll. 67-69) Western parents do not have the same courage to insult or tell their children the ugly truth. They are telling their children things in a less hurting way. Amy claims that maybe it can be why the western children end out in eating disorders, because the parents are not telling them the obviously truth.
Amy Chua is mentioning that even though the Western parents are trying not to say anything bad to their child, in fear of stepping on their self-esteem, the children still ends up with feeling bad about them self and even feeling depressed – “Western parents worry a lot about their children’s self-esteem. But as parent, one of the worst things you can do for your child’s self-esteem is to let them give up” (P. 10 lll. 166-168) She kind of accuse the Western parents for giving up on their children instead of keep on fighting. The Western parents are more concern about how to criticize their children without hurting them. The Chinese mothers are just being truly honest about what they think their children are doing wrong.
“If a Chinese child gets a B – which would never happen – there would first be a screaming, hair-tearing explosion” (P. 8 ll. 89-90) The Chinese mother expect that their children gets straight A’s. They are feeling devastated if...
