"Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior"

This article was in the Wall Street Journal this week-end. If you are interested in better parenting skills, this article will give you "food" for thought. Chinese mothers believe "academic achievement reflects successful parenting" and if children do not do well in school, the parents "were not doing their job." Chinese parents believe "nothing is fun until you're good at it." To do well, it takes work and practice, practice, practice. I very much believe a vital part of successful parenting is regularly having family meals in your own home with TV, phone, video games off. And the discipline of planning, shopping and cooking your dinners exhibits to your children a degree of discipline you also expect of them. The Chinese think "rote repetition is underrated in America." The rote repetition of dinnertime is a start. Did anybody watch college basketball this week-end? Under Dean Smith, UNC players were expected to always make their free throws. Today, there is no one in the ACC with a worse free throw % than UNC. No one wants to practice. And free throws, dinnertime, and absolutely nothing is fun until you are good at it. Parents- practice starts with us. Let's do our job!