Critique on Why Chinese Mothers are Superior by Amy Chua (Essay Sample)

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LIVING A PARENT’S DREAM
Every parent desires to have a happy child. A child who would be an envy of the community. Great genes, good looks, excellent grades and ultimately, a successful life are some of the expectations parents have on their kids. However, can these expectations be a little too much for a child to handle?
Some parents argue that a successful person is often an outcome from a parent’s persistence and determination of ensuring excellence in raising a child. Most children at a tender age, begin school at two years. They believe that a child who begins early in education has a better and stable foundation in learning than a child who begins later. Tendencies of early schooling leads a child into engaging in various activities such as sports, music, dance classes and foreign language classes. Certainly, this has great benefits as it enables a child to grasp new skills and identify their hidden talents so as to polish them. A child who begins playing a violin instrument at a tender age is at a better position in becoming a skilled violinist than an adult. However, parents do not realize that this very activities take much time of a child. Play time and socializing with other children are substituted to long hours of practice. Some parents and guardians do not see the usefulness in letting a child have quality play time with their peers, watching cartoons in television and curious explorations of young children.
Benefits of engagement of various activities may improve on the acquired skills, development of many interests and excellence in examinations. However, these children may not be able to develop their social skills. Children are selfish in nature and tend to have a ‘me’ attitude. It is with interaction with other children that they learn about social behavior. Sharing of toys during playtime, effective communication during shared activities and being courteous to one another cannot be learned when they have private lessons after schools. Teachers and parents should realize that children are human beings who being social is their nature. Denying their right to play may cause a child to fall victim to anti-social behavior, discrimination, depression and even obesity.
Parents and guardians may have their children’s best interest at heart when they enroll their kids in these activities. However, some may want their children to have a life that they never had. A parent who did not excel in academics may push a child to have high grades in school. If this child may fail, he/she may be denied playtime and watching television and have home tuition. This may make a child become resentful towards a parent due to being forced and punished for not getting perfect grades. Also, a child may become too timid and less confident to speak up and stand up for themselves so as not to upset their parents. This child may grow up having a perfect education but be unhappy and may even resort to drug abuse to channel out their frustrations.
Parents need to understand that children need to be raised up to independent adults. This does not mean that parents should not be strict and discipline their children for wrong doings. They should be wise to know which punishment is appropriate for the error made. They should speak to their child and inform them why they are being punished and which bad behavior the children need to avoid repeating. This results to a healthy parent-child relationship and fosters great communication and respect towards each other. It ul...