Assignment 3
Reflection on Chinese and French Parenting
Reflection on Chinese Parenting:
After reading both article published on Wall Street Journal which talk about Chinese and French Parenting style, first of all, I must say both the articles are very well written and very informative for different culture people who are interested and curious to know how parenting is done in different part of world or culture.
When I lookback my childhood, I feel that Chinese parenting culture is very much like Indian parenting culture. I can closely relate to all the theory and example given in Chinese parenting style. This article reminds me my childhood days where We were always pressurized to do well in study and anything less than first class or “A” grade was not accepted. Indian parents had tendency to compare their child with their neighbor’s or relative’s child on study performance.
My mother was a house-wife and was raising 6 children, in which We were 5 sisters and 1 brother. My parents were strict, specially my father. I lived in that household where getting a B on your report card was a sign of failure. A lot of focus and pressure was placed on the first child in the hopes that she would set an example for the rest of us. In a very painful hindsight I think you too much emphasis was placed on molding my elder sister into the example my mother wanted the rest of us to follow. I don’t blame her as she did the best she could do in the limited resources.
The restriction Chinese mom Amy Chua had put on her daughters, Sophia and Louisa, reminded me my childhood days when I was growing in India, my parents never allowed us to attend a sleepover at friend’s house, watch TV or play computer games, choose our own hobby classes like dancing or singing. Any participation in sports was considered as waste of time from my parents.
For my parent’s my achievements and report cards being able to show that her daughter was better than everyone else in the class, which in turn was a reflection on their success as a parent.
Even though Indian parenting is pretty much like Amy Chua’s parenting w.r.t Lulu piano story mentioned in this article, but I am totally disagreeing with Amy Chua’s style of pushing and pressurizing her daughter so much, this attitude can put negative impact on children mind. I personally know many of my American Friend’s kids practiced piano for hours because they loved music, and genuinely practiced for hour after exhausting hour because they couldn’t get enough of the emotional expression that piano afforded them.
Reflection on French Parenting:
Even though I grew up like Chinese parenting culture in India but after knowing and understanding French Parenting I feel like in many sense both Chinese and French parenting are similar, like both parenting style like to teach their children Discipline & Behavior from the childhood and establish clear expectations of what is expected and what is unacceptable behavior from their kids at an early age...
