A controversial book just came out called "Tiger Mom". A mother raising her children the Chinese rather than the Western, way. Riding her children hard, making them practice for 3 hours a day in piano, school work. Never letting them go to sleepovers, have play dates or watch TV. Well, as my kids are watching the "old school" Batman right now, I know that I should turn the TV off and practice some ABC's or sight words. However, I was raised Western and now I am a Western mom. But I am beginning to feel the pressure for my kids to succeed and be good at school, activities, maybe an instrument. What is the answer to raising successful well-rounded kids? Who knows?
I just finished an interesting book called "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell. A story about success. What makes people successful? According to Malcolm, several factors come into play. Everything from cutoff dates, to having the best teachers or coaches, to practicing endless hours and working hard, rituals and organization, a combination of academic intelligence and practical intelligence, to parents monetary funds, and just down right where you are from, where your family comes from.
So it left me thinking a lot about what I want to give my kids. I feel like it is my job to give them the opportunity to have the best instruction in school, expect the best from them, provide them with cultural experiences and expose them to people and places that will increase their practical intelligence, teach them the practice of meaningful work and reward and financially be able to support future endeavors. Right? So if I do all that, my kids will be successful. Right? What if they get a bad teacher? What if they don't make the top team? What if they don't want to go to college? Well, I guess that is where I step in and give them the reinforcement at home with practice and enrichment. Right?
Tiger mom or kitten mom? Hmmmmmm.
Ok, so I am going to turn off the TV.
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