NYR 3-14-11 - what got into Mac?

Mac came home from school "STARVING, MOM", ate his snack and then without nagging and pushing and prodding by me, did his homework. Not just the required Tuesday homework, but stuff that's not even due until Friday! Then when he finished, he didn't rush off to watch tv or play computer games. No, my boy decided to paint a little canvas that he wants to take to his art teacher on Monday. He said their school snack was brownies so maybe that give him a little pep in his step?

For a happy child who did his assignments sans battle, I am truly thankful (and praying that that continues all week).

As an aside, I've just finished reading the controversial "The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother". Maybe you know this book? Amy Chua, a Yale law professor of Chinese descent who's married to a very American Jewish guy, wrote about parenting her two girls using the strictest Chinese parenting model. She's caught all sorts of grief from people who have criticized her for being too strict, unyielding, etc. I'm not giving anything away by telling you that her younger daughter was the straw that broke the Chinese parenting camel's back so she's now assumed a slightly more "western" style of parenting.

Anyway, the book has given me lots of food for thought. I used to think I was kind of tough, but I'm a joke compared to Chua. Mac's not practicing his violin for 6 hours a day and we certainly don't haul that puppy away on vacations so he can practice. Amy Chua's old model was that she was unequivocally in charge.

Today I read a quote by Tina Fey in InStyle Magazine. She said "Kids are definitely the boss of you. Anyone who will barge into the room while you are on the commode is the boss of you. And when you explain to them that you're on the commode and that they should leave but they don't? That's a high-level boss."

I'm pretty sure we run more of a Fey-esque household around here, but I'd really like to get more of my Tiger Mother groove on!