We All Want To Do

When I'm Not The Tiger Mom, I'm A Professor At Yale Law School, And If One Thing Is Clear To Me From Years Of Teaching, It's That There Are Many Ways To Produce Fabulous Kids. I Have Amazing Students; Some Of Them Have Strict Parents, Others Have Lenient Parents, And Many Come From Family Situations That Defy Easy Description.

But Just Because You Love Something, I Added To Myself, Doesn't Mean You'll Ever Be Great. Not If You Don't Work. Most People Stink At The Things They Love.

You Know, Parenting Is So Personal. And We're All Afraid That We Didn't Quite Get It Right. And It Feels Like The Stakes Are So High. By We - What If We Made A Mistake?

When I Was Little, My Parents Really Only Wanted Me To Be A Scientist Or A Doctor; They Had Never Even Heard Of Law School. I Think Even These Days If You Were To Tell Your Mother You Want To Be A Fashion Designer, Or An Artist Or A Writer, A Lot Of Asian Parents Would Be Alarmed Because They Don't Think That's A Secure Career.

The Chinese Model Calls For Giving Your Kids Very Little Choice - And I've Come To See That You Can Go Too Far With That. On The Other Hand, I Also Believe That Western Parents Sometimes Give Their Young Kids Too Much Choice.