Beyond the Tiger Mom: East-West Parenting for the Global Age

Beyond the Tiger Mom: East-West Parenting for the Global Age

Beyond the Tiger Mom: East-West Parenting for the Global Age is a new and very interesting parenting book by Maya Thiagarajan.

Maya is a global citizen who has lived and worked in India, Singapore and the US. She’s a teacher and a mother and grew up with a mix of cultures herself and in this book she investigates the differences between Western and Asian approaches to parenting and education.

“How do Asian parents prime their children for success from a young age? Why do Asian kids do so well in math and science? What is the difference between an Asian upbringing and a Western one? Why do some Asian mothers see themselves as “tiger moms” while others shun the label? How do Asian parents deal with their children’s failures? Is it sometimes good for children to fail?”

Maya answers these questions and many more in the book. The looks at stereotypes and explores what really happens in Asian households and what Asian parents views are on childhood, parenting, education and family. Maya has interviewed lots of parents and children to find out their values and parenting styles and the hopes and fear behind these choices.

The book combines these with Maya’s own reflections and experiences of different cultures and teaching both in Singapore and in the US. What can Western parents learn from Asian parents and vice versa?

There are lots of fascinating chapters to explore and through reading this book you will learn how to help your child achieve maximum academic potential, help expand their attention span, balance work and play, tech your child to learn from mistakes and how to raise tech-healthy kids and much more.

Each chapter has a How To section with tips for Asian and Western parents to aid their child’s educational development at home and in school.

I love the way the book is written and the style caught my attention straight away. My children are only young but there are so many tips and ideas to learn from in this book — some that I can incorporate now and many that will come in handy when they start school and beyond.

I have a multi-cultural upbringing myself. My mum is half Austrian and my dad Swedish and our household was Swedish but my sisters and I attended a German school where the education was in German and the German way. We also learnt English at school (and from TV!) and spent time with children from all around the world and different backgrounds.

Now I live in England with my English husband and our two children so there are even more cultures being mixed now as our children are growing up with several languages and different influences. I love it! Learning from different cultures is great and I think it’s a wonderful way of raising healthy, happy and bright children.

Buy your copy of Beyond the Tiger Mom: East-West Parenting for the Global Age here and read more about Maya and the book here.

I was sent this book for this review. As always, all my reviews are 100% honest and all thoughts and opinions are my own.