Reflections of a Chinese mother in the West
A lot of people wonder how Chinese parents raise such successful kids. They are baffled that these parents produce so many children with an abundance of talent and whether they too could raise such a child. The fact is that Chinese parents do things that seem provocative, unimaginable, even illegal, to opinionated Westerners. Chinese mothers can dispense with formal courtesies and say to an obese child who gorges on food, "Hey fatty, lose some weight." By contrast, Western parents must be humane, tiptoe around the issue, talk in terms of "health", and never ever mention the f-word. And still their kids end up in therapy for eating disorders and a negative self-image.