I asked my friend S how her kid was doing in school and she said he'd gotten two "Asian Fs." For all you non-Asians out there, an Asian F is an A minus.
With the release of the Tiger Mom book in paperback, I started pondering what the cliches were for white parenting. I didn't ponder long because it was demonstrated for me in my local post office a couple days ago.
I was in a line with almost a million impatient people. At one of the two open stations, there was a Coach-bag-carrying/big-diamond-and-Tory-Burch flats-wearing white mom with her two youngsters.
This mom, ignoring the fact that people were waiting, was telling the postal worker that her daughter had recently come here on a field trip and asked her daughter to stop twirling in the aisle and tell the worker what she saw. Really? As if the worker doesn't already know what goes on in her office? You know what? I wouldn't care what a six-year-old thinks of my workplace but, unlike me, the worker remains pleasant. Of course the mother is harried. Although she probably was a lawyer or ran a company a few years ago, she's having a hard time keeping track of her two kids and trying to remember if she needs stamps or not. Just as this transaction seems it's finally coming to an end, the woman calls her son over. Apparently he likes to swipe the credit card through the machine. She lifts him up. It takes two times, but the little genius finally gets it and throws the mother's credit card, which falls behind the partition so that the worker has to move all her equipment to retrieve it. The mom admonishes her little precious and tells him that next time he swipes her card--there is going to be a next time?--to hand her the card and not just throw it.
If Asian parenting can be Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, white parenting seems to be Lullaby of the Pushover. What's wrong with white people that we believe other people will think our children are as cute as we think they are? They aren't. I can say this because I'm white. I have two boys who happen to be really cute and smart and talented and special, but I know now that not everybody agrees with me, especially impatient patrons in the post office.
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hahahahah - excellent post! so true. sooooo true. i hate other people's kids. and if i had any i'd probably hate them too. :)
ReplyDeleteThis problem has reached pandemic proportions in Berkeley.
ReplyDeleteHaha this is just so incredibly true-- I was in line behind a woman the other day and watched as her son--maybe 4 years old-- lay on his side on the ground and kicked himself in circles like the hands of a clock. She kept saying "Oh, you're so tired!" and laughing and shrugging at me. The poor kid was covered in dust bunnies and glitter (wtf?) by the time she drug him to his feet and out the door. I mean, I don't have kids so I'm not going to act like I wouldn't let mine roll around on the ground in public, but really? REALLY?!
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