Like many, you may have been seeing and hearing Yale Law Professor Amy Chua all over the news this past week and a half.

She recently wrote a book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, about her experiences raising her children in the stereotypical Chinese way.

She ‘threatened to put [her] three-year-old out in the winter cold for being disobedient, rejecting [her] children’s hand-drawn birthday cards because they were not thoughtful enough, not letting [her] kids have play dates or sleepovers, threatening to burn [her] older children’s stuffed animals if she didn’t improve on the piano, keeping [her] younger daughter from dinner, getting water or going to the bathroom until she perfected a piano piece,’ NPR’s Michel Martin said in an interview with Chua Jan. 13.

Since the release of her memoir, Chua has received both criticism and approval for her child rearing philosophies.

‘If you just tell your child, you’re great, you’re great, you’re perfect, I’m not sure that’s the best way, because eventually your child’s going to have to go out into the real world,’ Chua said on NPR.

She argues that work builds self esteem, not empty words.

That seems reasonable enough.

But.

The amount of pressure to achieve and maintain perfection and therefore their mother’s approval is far more detrimental than any of those meaningless affirmations.

In several of the interviews I’ve read about Chua, the interviewer almost always brings up her younger daughter’s rebellion scene in the book.

Chua usually speaks of it, noting how shocked she was by her daughter’s sentiments.

Well of course she rebelled! Who wouldn’t? I was more surprised to read that the ‘rebellion’ was more of a trifling, little fight.

If she is going to attempt to control every part of her child’s life, then of course at some point, her daughter will turn against her. Very few people want their parents to dictate their every action and decision.

Her kids may have emerged from this childhood seemingly unscathed, but I don’t think that is proof positive that this method of raising children should be advocated and practiced by many.

When I have children, instead of bringing them up in a stressful environment where perfection is the requirement, I hope they grow up making their own decisions, setting their own values and learning from their own mistakes.

Read more about Chua and her book here, and let me know what you think.