The Tiger Mother Vs. Western Culture

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parenting which would combine two different methods.

Memes are spreading around the globe, but es they are going to new places. “Each of these memes [is evolving] in its own unique way with its own history, but each of them is using your behavior to get itself copied” (Blackmore, 37). A meme in it its evolutionary life has a good chance of giving birth to hundreds of memes which then continue to life and spread long after the original meme has disappeared. “The fact is that Chinese parents can do things that would seem unimaginable-even legally actionable- to Westerners...By contrast, Western parents have to tiptoe around the issue…”(Chau 53). The meme of harsh authority is carried over by these immigrant families who integrated it into their own family. The parents had to struggle in many cases to come to the United States and to achieve success. That is the reason they push their children so hard, so that they wouldn’t have to face the same struggle. Most western parents on the other hand did fine with getting a college degree from a mediocre university with average grade to get an ok job. For that reason they don’t push their children to their boundaries academically. It is more important for them that their children have a fulfilling childhood of fun. That is the reason Chinese and western parents employ different memes in their children’s development.

Immigrating to a different country with a different a culture and values can be challenging. The most helpful thing we have is “Imitation [which] comes naturally to us humans… We copy each other all the time. Like seeing, it comes so effortlessly that we hardly think about it.”(Blackmore, 33) It enables us to learn new important customs without us even noticing that we are integrating into the new community. This is a survival instinct of not wanting to stand out of a crowd. In that struggle “Chinese parents [learned] that nothing is fun until you’re good at it. To get good at anything you have to work….”(Chua, 52). The beginning of anything is the hardest part during which imitation is a big part in helping you learn new skills. Succeeding at something hard feels amazing. That feeling pushes us until we reach the next achievement. Any immigrant can rant about the obstacles faced, but the feeling of finally accomplishing it feels amazing. Based on that feeling Chinese parents want their kids to get used to that system and how to get there, so once they leave their home they know what to do to continue to flourish. The entire “Tiger Mother” parenting is based on this one belief that hard work pays off.

Western and Chinese parents have two drastically different parenting styles. Both of these have success stories which sound incredible and both of them of also have unbelievably sad stories were the children did not respond well to the memes. Every child is unique, and because of that each juvenile reacts different to a different parenting method. The environment also matters, having friends going through the same experiences makes children less rebellious. These are all thing parents have to keep in mind when they want to raise a child. The common goal at the end for any parent is to give their kids the best shot at success.