Is Extreme Parenting Effective?

Is Extreme Parenting Effective?

Introduction

Mark Weaver

All parents wish the best for their children. But how should they go about it?

The Wall Street Journal published an essay titled “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” in which Amy Chua, a professor at Yale Law School, argues that tough love is the key to raising successful children. Her parenting methods include never allowing her two daughters to "attend a sleepover, have a play date, be in a school play, complain about not being in a school play, watch TV or play computer games, choose their own extracurricular activities, get any grade less than an A."

These measures may strike most parents as extreme. Some commentators note that such an approach may come out of a perhaps naïve belief that parents can indeed have control over their children.

What are the effects of a parenting style that is so demanding? Does strict control of a child's life lead to greater success or can it be counterproductive?

 Read the Discussion »

Debaters

• Balancing Freedom With Discipline

  Yan Sun

• When the Goal Is Successful Kids

  Hara Estroff Marano

• The Power of Conviction

  David Anderegg

• Defining Success for Myself

  Jennifer Cheng

• When Parents Feel Out of Control

  Karen Karbo

• The Opposite of Extreme

  Elizabeth Hartley-Brewer

• We Are What We Know

  Meredith F. Small
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