First, I've noticed that Western parents are extremely anxious about their children's self-esteem. They worry about how their children will feel if they fail at something, and they constantly try to reassure their children about how good they are notwithstanding a mediocre performance on a test or at a recital. In other words, Western parents are concerned about their children's psyches. Chinese parents aren't. They assume strength, not fragility, and as a result they behave very differently.She talks about how Chinese mothers kind of overreact with the actions of their children and western parents do not really mind. I do not completely agrree with that because i think that not all parents are the same or act the same.
The parent's relationship with their children is strict in the Chinese side. The kid obeys the parents and the kid basically does not have an opinion over what happens, or cannot make important decisions about education or other important stuff. The life of a kid who has a Chinese mother seems much harder than the life of a kid who has a western parent. The Chinese kid has more obligations as described in the article. Kids with Chinese mothers have to really be good in general and seem to have much more pressure than other kids such as American.
American kids on the other hand, who have western parents they are less pressured in almost everything. They do not really have those high expectations that the Chinese kids have. When they get low grades, they are not really pushed by their parents to do better. I know that she is talking about her own family in comparison with the western families, but she kind of make it seem like a comparison of the two general groups.
She makes the point that the two groups are different in the way they teach their children and the relationship they have with their children. I thimk it all depends on culture. There are different views of supporting children in diffeent places and people usually do what they believe is best. If Chinese mothers want to force their children to be successful, i think that is fine, and if a western parent wants their children to try just as hard as they can and not relly support them, then that is fine too.
About the argument about what parents and children owe each other, i think that parents should not really put that much pressure on their children and that the response from the children shlould be respect and efffot.
You are going to be an interesting dad one day. In the second to last paragraph you say, "... if a western parent wants their children to try as hard as they can and not really support them, then that is fine too," which is kind of awkward to me. I think you mean that if western parents do not push their kids as hard as chinese mothers, it is fine. Anyways, just work on proofreading your writing next time!!
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