The Battle Hymn Of The Tiger Mother Summary

The term “tiger mother” was coined by Amy Chua in 2011 with the release of her memoir, The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. She refers to herself as a tiger mother because she was born into the year of the tiger in Chinese zodiac. Tiger people are “powerful, authoritative, and magnetic,” (Kolbert, newyorker.com) Chua says, all qualities that show through in her parenting style.
Before beginning this research project, I knew little of the subject of tiger moms. I thought of them stereotypically, as Asian-Americans pushing their children to tears and more, forcing them to play endless hours on the piano and only receive straight A grades. There is much more to this topic, especially after it was widely scrutinized and brought to light with Amy Chua’s New York Times Bestseller. A highly controversial and debated topic, it raises important ethical questions about true success and makes me think. I chose this topic hoping to learn more about the mothers (and
fathers) along with the children involved in this parenting style extremely foreign and intriguing to me.

Research Method
I completed all of my research online. Just from searching “tiger mother” into Google, I found a wealth of information from all sorts of sources from the APA (American Psychology Association) to The New Yorker to studies held by Stanford. I didn’t use a print source, but not because I couldn’t find one. I checked a book out of the library titled Beyond the Tiger Mom, and Amy Chua’s book will be delivered to my house in a matter of days (multiple members of my family including me are looking forward to reading it). Google was more than enough in my case. I searched the terms “tiger mother,” “Amy Chua,” “year of the tiger,” and “Chinese parenting.” I became overwhelmed quickly, so I tried to narrow my search to the basics of tiger mothers, and their tie to Chinese culture.

Results
Oxford Dictionaries defines “tiger mother” as, “A strict or demanding mother who pushes her children to high levels of achievement, using methods regarded as typical of childrearing in China and other parts of East Asia.” Even though the term is a mere six years old, the parenting style of pushing children beyond their limits to find achievement, is much older, and goes back generations, for Chua and others.
Chua explicitly states in her book rules set for her two daughters. Her girls were never allowed to “attend a sleepover, have a play date, be in a school play, complain about not being in a school play, watch TV or play computer games, choose their own extracurricular activities, get any grade less than an A, not be the No. 1 student in every subject except gym and drama, play any instrument other than the piano or violin, not play the piano or violin,” (Chua, wsj.com). She states that she called her daughter “garbage” and that she was called it when she was young by her father after being disrespectful. She threatened her girls to go without lunch or dinner, Christmas or Hanukkah presents, birthday parties, and taking away their toys, all for not being able to master a piano piece. Tiger moms across the board, including Chua, all focus on tangible achievement for their children: playing at Carnegie hall, being the top of all their classes, getting into an Ivy League school, and doing well on standardized testing. Tiger mothers have a hyper-focus on having their children be successful, in the most materialistic and stereotypical sense of the world. However, many believe there is more to life than multiplication facts and difficult violin pieces.
There was a lot of feedback with the attention the subject got in 2011. Some of the responses were very negative. Some claim that living through a tiger mom is the reason they are as adults, in therapy and emotionally scarred. Christine Lu, Co-Founder and CEO of Affinity China, wrote back explaining that she and her sister had a tiger mother and her sister was the poster child for its success - receiving perfect A grades, an early admission to Harvard, marrying a doctor, and earring a six-figure salary- until she committed suicide at age thirty, after two years of hiding her depression (Chua, wsj.com). Some threw accusations at Chua and other tiger moms saying the methods of parenting they were using were much too harsh, cruel and even abusive.
In The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Chua makes a distinction between a “Chinese” mother and “Western” parents.
Using these terms loosely, “Chinese” mothers account for more than mothers living in China or with Chinese descent, but covers all mothers who use the style of parenting she uses. Accordingly, “Western” mothers are not specific to an ethnicity or nationality either. However, there are examples Chua uses, giving her methods ties, even if loose or vague, to Chinese culture. Tiger mothers want what is best for their child, which is one of the reasons they push their children so hard, forcing them to use up every last drop of potential and growth. Tiger mothers do not allow failure, even in the form of a B, or A-. Amy Chua states that, “In Chinese thinking, the child is the extension of the self,” (Chua, amychua.com). If the child is the extension of the self, then it would reflect poorly, or even be considered as failure, for the parent if the child made some mistakes or performed less than
perfect.

Discussion and Summary
In conclusion, I learned a lot about the contentious topic of tiger moms. I was surprised to learn that the term is only six years old, because I feel this topic along with the ever-pressing issue of international test scores and the competition between different countries or even Asian-Americans and other Americans, has been present for quite a while. Some even attribute the high scores with the extreme parenting, which does produce results, but not all use the intense style Chua described. I am going to read her book in its entirety soon, while as of now, I have only read excerpts. I enjoyed reading articles and others opinions of this topic, but I'm not sure how many more I’m going to read. If someone else were to research this topic, I would tell them to focus on a specific point of tiger mothers, for it is easy to get caught up in side debates and discussions. The knowledge I gained of this topic will change my life and perspective of those involved in extreme parenting situations, giving me more sympathy for both the parents and children, coincidentally.