Hanna Rosin's The Overprotected Kid

Nurturing and guiding the next generation, immediately from the beginning of this arduous journey, becomes a battle of ideology and principles among its participants. In her article titled “The Overprotected Kid,” journalist Hanna Rosin advocates that children should be free to experience the environment around them, a “‘free and permissive atmosphere’ with as little adult supervision as possible,” while lawyer and author Amy Chua seemingly argues, “it is crucial to override their preferences,” in the Wall Street Journal’s article, “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior,” an excerpt from Chua’s book, “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.” Solely between these two extremes of exploratory freedom versus strict seclusion, in this age of technological dependence,

Chua’s “Chinese” or ”tiger mom,” more guided approach towards raising children yields for them a higher possibility of a successful future, while still cementing a sense of self-confidence and worth.
Of course, the ‘tiger mom’ style does have its disadvantages. For example, creative freedom isn’t reinforced; debilitating, derogatory insults can damage the psyche, especially for those at a young age; and as today’s increased reliance on technology for direction and answers decreases one’s own independence and ability for self-thought, this method of parenting may do so even further. Definitely, allowing at least some space for self-expression and indulgence has its own set of advantages, such as relieving stress and possibly expanding critical thinking and analysis.
In terms of preparing children for a career path in the future, Chinese/tiger parenting and its immensely colossal standards imposed in academics reigns supreme. Chua reveals that “the vast majority of Chinese mothers said that they believe their children can be ‘the best’ students… if children did not excel at school then there was ‘a problem’ and parents ‘were not doing their job.’” This intense belief encourages Chinese parents to “spend approximately 10 times as long every day drilling academic activities with their children” compared to ‘Western’ parents (Chua 1)—a term seemingly to refer to parents extremely liberal with their children. By investing such an extensive amount of time with their children, tiger parents understand the importance of rote repetition and its role and aiding one to achieve mastery in any subject. Chua maintains that the realization of improvement earns their children praise and even adds an atmosphere of fun around what he or she is currently excelling at.
As a result of their personal improvement and the praise they receive, these children build confidence, and thus, self-esteem. This combination of increased self-worth and trust from their parents regarding their abilities allows said parents to be upfront with their children, sometimes extremely harshly so to convey their message. Chua illustrates a situation with her father that especially when she was “extremely disrespectful to [her] mother, [her] father angrily [would call her] ‘garbage’” (Chua 1). While she felt immediate shame for what she dad after such a comment, her self-esteem never wavered as she knew her father held her in high regard and didn’t think she was actually worthless. This assumption of strong will over fragility within their child, one may infer, represents a strong bond, possibly mutual respect, between said child and his or her parents.
Chinese tiger parenting subscribes to a belief that children harbor an enormous amount of potential to be successful in life. Such trust that they are capable of achieving mastery within any subject and handling constructive, at times crude, criticism incentivizes these parents to push their children academically and mentally. However, “too much” of a good thing, or in this case, an excruciatingly intense amount of practice and tests of mental fortitude eventually become a detriment. Although