Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua

If you think things are tough around your house between you and your kids, read this book. I love the title: it's perfect for the story she tells (nonfiction, in case you are wondering. It's a loose memoir since it focuses only on Ms. Chua's child rearing techniques). Ms. Chua describes the boundaries and expectations she set for her two daughters (the book follows the girls from birth through ages 14 and 16); the standards she set might be considered Draconian by some parents. Although Ms. Chua emphasizes the difference between a Chinese mother and a Western one and I am not Chinese, I understood a lot of her thought process and agree with some of her parenting philosophy. However, I don't think I'm as extreme in my demands of my own children (she made her girls practice piano and violin for 4-5 hours a day--I let my girls quit taking lessons when the battle to get them to practice consumed too much of my own energy). I understand the push to get your children to squeeze out the best in themselves, to try to excel beyond your own parents' achievements, to set and pursue a goal. It was just hard to understand how she could manage to teach at a prestigious law school, publish scholarly works, be a wife, daughter and sister, and keep up the strict parenting techniques that she describes in the book. She must have unending drive. Not once did she describe what she liked to do for herself. I was really absorbed in the book, but would like to have read more about the relationship between Chua and her husband while she was pushing her daughters so much. She hinted that she there was a story there but it was his to tell. As a how-to manual for parents, skip this book. As a glimpse into who your kid is competing with in this world, you must read this book. p.s. I'm getting used to reading on my ereader.