The verdict on tiger parenting essay

Ruth Byrd
Debra Taylor
English 101
22 March 2022
While Lang Langs father may have made a few mistakes, was he right or wrong for pushing his son to achieve such outstanding success?
Parents need to moderately support their children since excess pressure can have adverse outcomes. The adverse consequences may be attributed to the child not comprehending that the parents have their best interests at their heart. When the pressure is taken positively, the child will likely embrace hard work and achieve the best outcomes. While many people tend to believe that unnecessary pressure has a detrimental impact on the child. However, children should be treated gently and provided with the best resources necessary to guarantee their academic and personal success. The children should be offered advice, and parents should be trained to express their wishes gently. Therefore, this essay shows that Lang Langs father may have a few mistakes but he was wrong for pushing his son to achieve such outstanding success.
Lang Lang is brought up by uncompromising father who once served in the military orchestra but now is serving as a policeman. In the article by Rosanna Greenstreet, Lang Lang: Id play the piano at 5 am, Lang Langs father was overly strict and that adversely affected his development. Both parents are working, but the father is optimistic that Lang Lang will become a successful pianist since classical music is becoming accepted and popular within China. Despite the family not being well-off, they purchase a piano before even Lang Lang is born. Based on Chinas one-child policy, his father intends to make the best out of his son by deciding to have him enrolled at a prestigious classical music school in Beijing. However, upon retiring and taking Lang Lang with him to Beijing at Central Conservatory of Music, his son is later informed that he lacks musical talent. Lang Langs father does not take those words politely and tells him to commit suicide by taking some pills or throwing himself from the storeyed building. You shouldnt live any more everything is destroyed Then jump off and die (Greenstreet). That shows the fathers frustration following his sons failure to be admitted at the school and eventual firing from the school. Lang Lang decided to take time off from the piano classes but later resumed and became a perfect and popular pianist across the globe. The father was wrong for being uncompromising but would have taken time to comprehend the sons potential.
Lang Langs father was abusive since sometimes he hit and yelled at him. Different parents embrace different approaches when bringing up their children. Despite having limited resources, these parents embrace a tiger parenting style where they put extreme pressure on children. According to Anwar, one aspect of tiger-parenting is setting enormously high and unreasonable expectations for your kids, which was the case of Lang Langs father. The parents need to understand that exerting much pressure accompanied by verbal and physical abuse on the children results in stress and delinquent behavior. When the children cannot match the expectation of their parents, the ensuing frustration can result in low-esteem, stress, and depression, as noted when children raised by authoritarian parents are showing maladaptive outcomes, such as depression, anxiety and poor social skills (Anwar) Poor mental health can , such as drug and alcohol abuse. However, the response by a child to pressure from peers and parents is dependent on personal attributes. The strong-willed children and those with self-control are likely to persevere and overcome the pressures from parents.
Lang Lang’s father made him loose interest in playing the piano. As a result, the pressure on these children makes them have developmental problems. The escalating mental problems result in a high suicide rate among children. In the article, Lang Lang developed a mental problem when he could not withstand his fathers pressure. As his father told him to commit suicide, he got mad as he claims I was beating the wall, trying to prevent myself from being a pianist by destroying my hands. I hated everything: my father, the piano, myself. I went nuts too (Greenstreet). If his father understood his sons strength or would have been a bit patient, he would not have exerted unnecessary pressure on him resulting in injuring himself. Maybe, if the father could not have walked out, Lang Lang would have injured himself badly. Therefore, the approach by the father was wrong since parents influence can adversely influence mental health of their children. Besides, parents should be moderate in pushing their children to perform better through offering a supportive environment that than focusing on weaknesses and having a negative attitude.
Lang Lang’s father was wrong for pushing his son welfare. In many Asian and African families, many parents stress the importance of hard work irrespective of the children’s abilities. The parents ignore children’s physical and mental ability but pressure them to take and complete tasking courses. That is apparent in Gladwell and Marita Bargain, where Asian children are expected to excel in their schools through excess pressure and perseverance. Harsh parenting similar to that of Lang Lang should not be condoned. Parents ought to understand that children have different capabilities. Parents should be hopeful of the best outcomes for their children, they need to be realistic and advance childrens interests rather than theirs. In most cases, parents assume that children do not have the right to make decisions that will influence their adult life. As a result, they that will impact the childrens entire life. Parents should be keen to acknowledge their childrens interests and provide the necessary resources required to advance them. Through such support, parents become a source of motivation as they support children to succeed in something of their interests.
The mode of upbringing is mainly determined by cultural and socio-economic background. For children coming from poor or low-income households, their parents mainly focus on working extremely hard in the schools. Therefore, they need to be strict and pressure the children. The parents believe that it is only through improved school performance that they can realize their career and personal goals. Parents need to understand their children strengths and weaknesses and need to exert moderate pressure to get the best out of them. Parents should be soft to their children irrespective of their socio-economic background.
Briefly, Lang Langs father exerts much pressure on him through being strict, abusive and sometimes made him loose interest in playing piano, which was wrong. Tiger parenting should not be advanced since it can result in mental problems similar to that exhibited by Lang Lang. Excess pressure can result in physical injuries too. Parents’ expressions towards children affect their cognitive development in diverse ways. Parents ought to neither be too permissive nor authoritative. Parents need to understand that they need to study their childrens interests and support them on the right path. Exerting pressure on children can result in mental breakdown and other consequences associated with poor mental health. Thus, a little pushing of parents to their children can have positive attributes. Excess pressure can have adverse effects on mental health depending on the childs personality.

Works Cited
Anwar, Yasmin. The verdict on tiger-parenting? Studies point to poor mental health. Berkeley News, 2013. Accessed 27, 2022 from https://news.berkeley.edu/2013/06/18/chinese-parenting/.
Greenstreet, Rosanna. Lang Lang: ‘I’d play the piano at 5am’. The Gurdian, 2011. Accessed on March 27, 2022 from https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/may/14/lang-lang-piano-china-father#:~:text=%E2%80%9CWe%20rented%20the%20cheapest%20place,I%20would%20get%20beaten%20up.%E2%80%9D.