Beyond the Tiger Mom Quotes

“While some American education experts may say that all learning should be 'fun,' I personally believe that the word "fun' is the wrong word to use. Learning should be challenging, meaningful, rigorous, engrossing, interesting, and satisfying.”
― Maya Thiagarajan, Beyond the Tiger Mom: East-West Parenting for the Global Age

“the Asian mothers I spoke with all reiterated the importance of “study routines” or “study schedules.” If children assume that they will have to do supplementary math every Saturday morning, then they will accept it as part of their weekly routine.”
― Maya Thiagarajan, Beyond the Tiger Mom: East-West Parenting for the Global Age

“Nature does not hurry, yet
everything is accomplished. —Lao Tzu (571–531 BC)”
― Maya Thiagarajan, Beyond the Tiger Mom: East-West Parenting for the Global Age

“If creativity is about connecting the dots, you need to have solid dots in the first place or you will have nothing to connect. So a grasp of the basics is necessary.”
― Maya Thiagarajan, Beyond the Tiger Mom: East-West Parenting for the Global Age

“With strong basics, everything else will fall into place.” The”
― Maya Thiagarajan, Beyond the Tiger Mom: East-West Parenting for the Global Age

“Scientific evidence suggests that as we build up our personal store of memories, our minds become sharper. The very act of remembering appears to modify the brain in a way that can make it easier to learn ideas and skills in the future. We don’t constrain our mental powers when we store new long-term memories. We strengthen them. With each expansion of our memory comes an enlargement of our intelligence.”
― Maya Thiagarajan, Beyond the Tiger Mom: East-West Parenting for the Global Age

“Math is supremely important. Do you know how important it is…” and then proceeds to lecture on about the importance of math in life until her children beg her to stop because they would rather just do the math than listen to her.”
― Maya Thiagarajan, Beyond the Tiger Mom: East-West Parenting for the Global Age

“I am your mother. Whatever I do, I do for your own good. I do everything in the world for you, and you need to be a good son/ daughter and listen to me. You need to be a good son/daughter and respect your mother. No back-chat. Get to work.” Or, “You are only a child. You don’t understand how important your education is and what you need to do to be successful. I am much older, I know the importance of these skills.”
― Maya Thiagarajan, Beyond the Tiger Mom: East-West Parenting for the Global Age

“American parents and educators are told to give children choices, to respect their desires, to ask them questions as opposed to issuing orders, to refrain from pressuring or coercing them to do work they don’t want to do, and to offer positive reinforcement all the time. Children are supposed to want to do the work—otherwise, they shouldn’t have to do it. In contrast, the scripts that Asian culture offers its parents include statements, not questions, and orders, not requests. Children are routinely told what to do, and particularly when it comes to academic work, parents and educators don’t spend much time asking them what they want or catering to those desires. Asian parents see these scripts as the natural order of the family and society; the elder has wisdom and a responsibility to teach and discipline the child, and the child needs to learn from those elders.”
― Maya Thiagarajan, Beyond the Tiger Mom: East-West Parenting for the Global Age

“The American fear of killing a child’s love of learning by drilling her too much does not exist in Singapore, and I suspect this fear is unfounded.”
― Maya Thiagarajan, Beyond the Tiger Mom: East-West Parenting for the Global Age