I'm no Chinese mother.

I realize that I'm a bit late to the game, but I actually had this post sitting in my drafts for about a week. While reading one of my favorite mommy bloggers, Dooce, I linked to this article about Chinese mothers. All I can say, is OH MY.

If you haven't read it, go read it now. Really. Then come back to this post....

OK, crazy right??!!?? I am such a lightweight when it comes to mothering. I can barely do 15 minutes of spelling homework, never mind hours and hours of drilling 'boat, float, coat'.

Today I was chatting with a friend during her break from her class. She said she could barely make it through the article because it brought up all her emotional baggage of growing up with a Chinese mother....though just a few moments before she was bemoaning the fact that piano and violin lessons were so time consuming for her kids. Another student joined the conversation. She is a recent Chinese immigrant trying to navigate child raising here in Canada. She hadn't read the article, but admitted that it is a struggle to understand the differences.

I have to admit. Some of what she says makes sense. I do think we are overly concerned about our children's feelings. And I do think we overpraise for mediocre work, though you'd never find me ripping up a homemade card from my girls. But the reality is that I could never put in the sheer amount of time it would take to be a 'Chinese mother'. That's hours of threatening, begging, yelling, stomping, driving, working and spying. It sounds exhausting.

I may not be a Tiger Mother, but I am a Mamabear.