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I don't think I would have the energy or dedication to be a Tiger Mom! I can't even micromanage myself, how am I supposed to do it to my kid? As long as my homework got done, I practiced the piano and my grades were good, I wasn't regimented. My sister and I ran around the neighborhood playing and keeping ourselves busy. My husband also had a very free childhood. He was in the woods 85% of his free time, with the other 15% out fishing on the beach. I would love it if Charlie turned out this way. The thought of coming up with a schedule, planning a myriad of activities, giving her assignments outside of schoolwork all seems like my personal hell.

I do agree with abandoning the attitude of how "special" kids are these days. I think learning from failure and even more importantly, how to persist through repeated failure, is more important than having your kid think they poop rainbows and glitter.

I was raised by two very western parents but they raised us a lot by these tiger standards.
#1 I was always encouraged to do my best but they were honest and upfront that sometimes others do better. I want my child to know that nothing is free in life and you typical get out what you put in.
#2 we followed a lot as well. We lived in my parents house and therefore by their rules. As we got older they took our opinion into account but they had the final say. My mom was known for searching our rooms while we were at school or having other moms spy on us while we were out.
#3. I don't really think we followed. My mom made me do all kinds of things like take etiquette classes but I could choose sports and things

My parents were tigers and I plan on being as tiger-y as I can. I don't know if I can do what my parents did but I do believe that Western style of parenting is flawed - too much attention on the child's wants.

A great book on the topic of overnurturing is Nurtureshock by Po Bronson.

I personally won't put down my child or tell him he's not good enough, but I do want to encourage him to do the best he can and ask for help when he needs it. I want him to respect his elders, especially his grandparents, but that respect doesn't mean that you have to agree with everything they say or do.

No, absolutely not. DH and I both know how it feels to try as hard as we can but never be enough. I believe if our kids can truthfully say they tried their best, that is good enough for me. I do not like the whole, you owe me everything because I took care of you thing either... I expect to be respected but I do not want their goal to be making us proud, I would rather them focus on making Jesus proud and serving Him since they belong to Him anyways. #3 is a little harder though because yes to a certain point it is true as in I am not going to let my daughter stay up until midnight eating coco puffs but I would never try to run her life in the bigger picture.

I will not be a Tiger mom. I don’t think kids are miniature adults that we can necessary mould into whatever we like (like, for example, that any child can be be a great violinist if just pushed hard enough, or great at sports or math if they just put in enough hours of practice), and I don’t think that they should be treated like mini adults (with no concern for their self esteem or feelings, and verbally degraded for not achieving 100%, 100% of the time).

The impression I got from reading the full article was that there wasn’t much emphasis on teaching compassion and empathy, or teaching a child to love learning for the sake of learning and knowledge – instead it seems very much geared only towards parent pleasing and “winning”. In the real world, sometimes you lose even when you are the smartest and the hardest worker – life just isn’t fair all the time, but that doesn’t have to necessarily be a negative reflection on that person who loses. It’s just the breaks sometimes.

I think its really important that children don’t win 100% of the time, and that they are encouraged to love learning for its own sake and because it’s fun and opens new worlds for them; not just because they know if they don’t succeed, their parents will be disappointed (or worse).

Not a parent yet, but I will not be a tiger mom. I do believe in some aspects of tiger parenting but not the extreme, I also do not believe in putting my children down at all. Also for what its worth, Amy Chua has sort of recanted some of her tiger momness, I saw an interview with her once about how she has changed her perspective and parenting style, I can't remember exactly why though or how she had changed.