Does Strict Parenting Spell Success?
Amy Chua, aka The Chinese Mom, author of “The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom,” is the woman who rejected her 4-year-old’s homemade birthday card because it wasn’t good enough. I could argue her no playdates, no second-place child-rearing regime is an attempt at control in a complicated world. I could speculate that it’s a middle finger to the reigning parenting culture with its everybody-wins-a-medal, let’s-talk-it-out while I drive you and your five friends to the birthday party. Or I could treat the Tiger Mom to some of her own medicine. She wants results. I got them. Bring on the results, the cold hard evidence. Does “Chinese parenting” help kids? Or is it the fast track to an adulthood spent in therapy? Here’s what we know: Authoritarian parenting. These parents, like Chua, cherish rules and expectations but not negotiation or warm fuzzy moments. We got piles of evidence children raised by strict, stern parents aren’t as well-adjusted or successful as those with “authoritative” paren
