January 11, 2011
2 perspectives on experiences raising kids are a Chinese parent

Initially, I was starting to read WSJ1, and my husband told me to check out a blog response2. It's funny how close the poster of the blog article background is sort of similar to mine, born of 1st generation Chinese, parents not totally strict (i.e. piano lessons, gettings straight As, study all the time) and married to a non-Chinese guy. The attitude is certainly a lot different. It's their form of keeping up with the Joneses by form of bragging how well they brought their kids with their straight As, playing some musical instruments, etc. I don't really face these situations often, so don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for that. My lasting impression was when I went to visit my aunt in UK with my mom. We headed out to meet up with my Aunt's "friends" in London Chinatown for afternoon dim sum. Nothing unusual there, but surely they don't need to dress up to the tee in designer gear, all blinged up with gold, rolex watch and largest diamonds, and blabbing on about their kids. It was a horrible experience, that was when I was around 15 years old, and I'm in my 30s now!

It was funny to read the blog and see that her parents considered her successful until she left Google (she thinks so anyway). I, too, had to explain why I left a Sun back in 2005. That was pretty hard considering my Cantonese is passable. I even had problems trying to explain what kind of company Sun was when I joined the company. I didn't even know the word for software engineer till after I left the company. It has changed since the 1st generation arrived in Ireland, and the 2nd generation's way of thinking is so different. I hope when I have kids of my own, I will not force what I would like them to do, but encourage them on what they want. Easier said then done I suppose. Would my wish for my future kids to speak Chinese be a bit too much to ask though, and is this a step towards the stereotypical way Chinese kids are raised?

1 Wall Street Journal - Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior

2 Response to WSJ's article

Posted by whykay at January 11, 2011 09:18 PM