Tiger Moms: A Role Reverse In Early Childhood Development

According to Winnicott, there are three stages in infant development. In stage one, undifferentiated unity, the child must feel connected to the mother. The mother fulfils this need through feeding, bathing and holding the child. In doing so, the child feels all powerful, and incomplete control of the mother. Their every need is met, and they want for nothing. However, Winnicott warns that if a mother fails to respond adequately to the child’s needs, this will hinder the development of healthy future relationships, including the relationship with one self.

A tiger mom can be described as strict, stern, and rigorous with high expectations. In the article “Whatever Happened to the Original Tiger Mum's Children?” by Tanith Carey, they discuss how Amy Chua raised her two daughters, Sophia and Lulu Chua-Rubenfeld. They were brought up in a very strict manner of focusing on school and playing violin/piano. They didn’t have much of an outside life, for they were always doing school work. Some may say that Amy Chua raised her daughters in a bad way, but the family speaks out on how it was tough but more happy childhood. Honestly, tiger parenting can get your kids far, but I wouldn’t raise my own kids like this exactly.

It’s true that different parents have distinct parenting styles. Each child must be disparate from another due to cultural background and upbringing. Three major parenting styles that have been around are tiger, helicopter, and free range parenting. In tiger parenting, parents are strict, while in free range it is just the opposite, parents let loose and let their children be who they are and allow them to take risks. The article “I am a helicopter parent, and I don’t apologize” by Elizabeth Fairfield Strokes is an epitome of helicopter parenting and what goes on in a mind of helicopter parent. Helicopter parenting refers to "a style of parents who are over focused on their children," says Carolyn Daitch, Ph.D., director of the Center for the Treatment of Anxiety Disorders near Detroit and author of Anxiety Disorders: The Go-To Guide. "They typically take too much responsibility

Bowlby’s attachment theory, as well as Erikson’s psychosocial theory, indicates that a child’s overall development is dependent on the care that they receive from their caregiver, more specifically their mother. Meeting the needs of the child and providing a

Much research has been done on the influence of a mother on a child’s well-being and development (Pougnet, Serbin, Stack, & Schwartzman, 2011). However, research has shown that an engaged and loving father can contribute greatly to a child’s cognitive, social, and psychological development (Bronte-Tinkew, Carrano, Horowitz, & Kinukawa, 2008; Duursma, Pan, & Raikes, 2008; Pancsofar & Vernon-Feagans, 2010; Wilson & Prior, 2010).

Studies on rats revealed baby rats that had a nurturing mother during periods of stress we calmer and less aggressive later in life. Baby rats that did not receive that nurturing during stressful events had an increase in blood pressure, increase in stress hormone production and later in life where more aggressive. (Meany, M. Nova, 2013) Miles O’Brien, a “research team has followed about 60 families over 30 years. Although there is not just one way to build attachment, certain patterns became clear.”

It is beneficial for people in high authority to have high expectations for teens because the teens will want to achieve those expectations and it will make them more stable and emotionally ready for adult life. In the article “Tiger Moms: Is Tough Parenting Really The Answer?” Hara Estroff Marano who is the author of A Nation Of Wimps and the editor-at-large of Psychology Today magazine speaks about the benefits of raising children with strict parenting. Marano states, “ Children who have never had to test their abilities, says Marano, form into “emotionally brittle” young adults who are more vulnerable to anxiety and depression.” (Paul 4). This quote shows that high expectations is beneficial because kids who grew up with lower expectations

The formation of secure attachments with the primary caregiver is thought to be of great significance by John Bowlby, who believed that the infant was completely reliant on the caregiver to care and provide for them (as cited in Psychology, Martin, Carlson & Buskist). Those children with sensitive caregivers would grow up to be more confident and developed in all aspects of life, for example forming relationships in later life. Those with unresponsive caregivers would see the world as unpredictable and unreliable. Nelson (1996) claimed that the bond between the primary caregiver and child is extremely important in how an infant sees the world around them (as cited in Attachment from infancy to childhood). Yet, attachments, in this case insecure ones, are not the only reason as to why we develop into the individuals we are. There are other causes that are unrelated to attachment that explain our later development.

The concept of infant-mother attachment is as important to the child as the birth itself. The effect this relationship has on a child shall affect that child for its entire life. A secure attachment to the mother or a primary caregiver is imperative for a child’s development. Ainsworth’s study shows that a mother is responsive to her infant’s behavioral cues which will develop into a strong infant-mother attachment. This will result in a child who can easily, without stress, be separated from his mother and without any anxiety. Of course the study shows a child with a weak infant-mother relationship will lead to mistrust, anxiety, and will never really be that close with the mother. Without the

During the early stages of a child’s life the mother is the dominant figure. She really is the only figure until the child starts to play with other children. This is when children can venture away from their mother and find and develop their on own sense of self.

Mary S. Ainsworth was fascinated in the association between infants and their mothers that she later coined the theory of infant-mother attachment. According to Ainsworth, there are three evident attachment patterns that will develop, secure, anxious and avoidant infants. Ainsworth felt it was substantially necessary for a child to transition out from a mother’s attachment and vulnerability to autonomy and independence as a factor in normal development in personality. One of the key points of Ainsworth security theory is that infants need to “develop a sense of direction and secure dependence on parents” before leaving the nest into a strange and unfamiliar situation (Bretherton, 1992). According to Ainsworth, “Familial security in the

There is many questions on how to parent a child in order to help them be successful in life. Although parenting style various greatly, most all parents put into practice what regulations in which they think will help their child succeed in life. Some parents, known as Chinese parents are extremely strict, and on the other end of the spectrum there is western parents, who do not expect as much from their child. In Amy Chua’s “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom,” Chua explains what it is like to have Chinese parenting techniques. She attempts to justify the struggles, beliefs, and methods of Chinese parents, as compared to western parents, and how they both have the end goal - to prepare their child to succeed in life.

By responding with care and comfort, this enables for an “attachment bond” to form between the infant and caregiver, most commonly the mother (White et al., 2013). Following on from Bowlby’s theory, Mary Ainsworth investigated the theory of attachment through observing the reactions of infants when their mothers left them alone with strangers. The investigation was named as the “Ainsworth’s strange situation assessment” (White et al., 2013). It was discovered through this investigation that infants who had secure attachments with their mothers were upset when separated and were easily soothed when the mother returns. This investigation implies that infants with secure attachment to their mothers show signs of normal social development.

The infant’s temperament may partially stem from the way in which the mother handles the child. The child is affected by the way that they are treated even when they are infants.

Experimental data suggest that the past experiences of the mother are a major determinant in molding her care-giving role. Children use adults, especially loved and powerful adults, as models for their own behaviour. Children development literature, states that the powerful process of imitation or modelling socially inclines children. Kennell and Klaus explain that unless adults consciously and painstakingly reexamine these learned behaviours, they will unconsciously repeat them when they become parents (Kennell and Klaus 11). Thus the way a woman was raised, which includes the practices of her culture and the individual idiosyncrasies of her own mother's child raising practices greatly influences her behaviour toward her own infant. Bob Brazelton in The Early Mother-Infant Adjustment says that, "It may seem to many that attachment to a small baby will come naturally and to make too much of it could be a mistake... but there are many, many women who have a difficult time making this adjustment...(Brazelton 10). He points out that we must understand the ingredients of attachment in order to help, because each mother-child dyad is unique and has individual needs of it's own (Brazelton 12).