The Comment I Was Going to Leave on WSJ's Chinese Mothers Article

My husband doesn't want me to publish this on the WSJ article Why Chinese Mothers are Superior as they use our account name which is his real name. So here is the comment I'd prepared to post. A nutshell of my 1000+ word post published earlier today. This is proof that I can write with brevity if I want to.

I’m a Western mother married to a Western father.

Regarding the two end goals Chua poses as opposites to be chosen as one or the other, in the last paragraph, I'd argue both are attainable. I think that's what I'm doing with my kids.

Of the three things she says Chinese mothers do, I agree with her on two of them (#1 and #3).

However, our parenting approach is much kinder and gentler and we have more balance in trying to do it all (reference the list at the beginning).

Also I too would do anything for my kids, and so far have put action to my intention by putting my career on hold and giving up that income, to raise my kids and homeschool them.

I think this is another case of people having the same goal but finding there is more than one path to reach that goal. The type of thinking that there is one right way to attain a goal is usually incorrect.

My kids are 13 and 10 now and they're turning out great so far. When my kids are in college and I have more free time on my hands, maybe I'll write my own book on how, using balance and more gentle parenting techniques, we raised well-adjusted, self-confident, academically-capable good people.