An event happened a few months ago which got me thinking. I was in a restaurant in Abuja. As I was waiting for my bill, I was people watching. There was a family with young children but there was one child who was about 4 years old who caught my eye. Let’s call him ‘Tunde’ (a totally random name selection. Trust meJ). He was very boisterous and was running around having fun. Now there was a couple on a date who were about to eat. So of course we all know what happened next don’t we?
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Yale Professor, Amy Chua’s new book ‘Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother’ has caused some serious controversy amongst parents in the US and probably in Europe too. It’s basically reignited a debate that’s always been going on. That is the ‘Strict versus soft parenting’ one. She just provided a new dimension to it. Her book is mainly talking about a specific style of parenting which might be seen as harsh within the Western parenting context.
Parents using this style don’t subscribe to the ‘Everybody’s a winner’ or ‘there are no losers’ mantra sweeping schools and parenting methods in the West. This type of approach doesn’t praise children just for the sake of it just so their egos aren’t hurt. This parenting style expects results from children and puts them under pressure to perform and deliver.
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