Singaporeans the world’s strictest parents?
Do Singapore parents embrace authoritative parenting when it comes to their children by applying plenty of stringent rules and making academic results a paramount concern?
A television documentary titled "World's Strictest Parents" seems to portray a typical Singapore parent as such, a stark contrast to the much lenient Western counterparts.
The 40-minute show reveals how the attitudes of two rebellious Aussie teenagers, who once detested school and often turned a deaf ear to their parents, changed when placed under the care of the authoritative Chua family for a week.
The Chua family comprises a banker dad, parenting coach mom, and two daughters studying in prestigious schools here.
Drinking, smoking, sleepovers and even getting attached during their teenage years are a big "no-no" for the daughters. Scoring straight 'As' in their studies has to be the norm, and there has to be mutual respect between family members.
In the video, the two Aussie teens initially claimed that such culture is "ridiculous". Yahoo! Singapore has also reached out to two American youths for comments, and both said rules like these are "a little overboard" and "there is no freedom at all".
So this points to the ultimate question: Are Singapore parents strict or are do they merely reflect the characteristics of typical Asian culture?
Yahoo! Singapore spoke to over a dozen of students, parents and educators, and got mixed responses.
20-year-old Geraldine Lee agrees that parents here are sometimes uncompromising, but most of them do not fall under the "extreme" category.
"Yes, Singapore parents are indeed strict, but they aren't dictatorial like the 'World's Strictest Parents' documentary seems to imply, and rules are set for a reason," said the freelance writer and world adventurer.
17-year-old junior college student Chua K-Chuen said he knows of a friend whose parents disallow her from going out after school, even at the age of 17.
A teacher from Hai Sing Catholic School said, "Some parents are strict but they have their principles, which are very important, and I personally find that parents often lack the communication skills to reach out to their kids."
35-year-old business consultant Nicholas Tan, a parent of two, pointed out that it is inevitable that parents are strict and have high expectations of their children due to Singapore's competitive and qualification-orientated society. He also noted that parents in China impose much more stringent rules on their children.
Student Wong Xiu Yi, on the other hand, thinks that they are not strict at all, given that children today are pampered and are "rather bratty" in behaviour.
Chinese parents, moms in particular, appear to be far stricter, claiming that such extreme habits need to be practiced to raise a successful child.
In a Wall Street Journal article published earlier this year, Amy Chua wrote that her daughters, Sophia and Louisa were never allowed to attend a sleepover, watch TV or play computer games, choose their own extra-curricular activities, get any grade less than an 'A', not be the number one student in every subject except gym and drama, and play any instrument other than the piano or violin.
See the videos below:
What do you think about how Singaporean parents raise their kids?
The writer is a 17-year-old student and technology blogger who loves social media and gadgets. He is also Singapore's top Twitter user with over 220,000 followers.
