Do You Know What A

I See My Upbringing As A Great Success Story. By Disciplining Me, My Parents Inculcated Self-discipline. And By Restricting My Choices As A Child, They Gave Me So Many Choices In My Life As An Adult. Because Of What They Did Then, I Get To Do The Work I Love Now.

I Sort Of Feel Like People Are Not That Honest About Their Own Parenting. Take Any Teenage Household; Tell Me There Is Not Yelling And Conflict.

The Fact Is That Chinese Parents Can Do Things That Would Seem Unimaginable-even Legally Actionable-to Westerners. Chinese Mothers Can Say To Their Daughters, "hey Fatty-lose Some Weight." By Contrast, Western Parents Have To Tiptoe Around The Issue, Talking In Terms Of "health" And Never Ever Mentioning The F-word, And Their Kids Still End Up In Therapy For Eating Disorders And Negative Self Image.

My Youngest Sister, Cindy, Has Down Syndrome, And I Remember My Mother Spending Hours And Hours With Her, Teaching Her To Tie Her Shoelaces On Her Own, Drilling Multiplication Tables With Cindy, Practicing Piano Every Day With Her. No One Expected Cindy To Get A Ph.d.! But My Mom Wanted Her To Be The Best She Could Be, Within Her Limits.

I Am Definitely A Type A Personality, Always Rushing Around, Trying To Do Too Much, Not Good At Just Lying On The Beach. But I'm So Thankful For Everything I Have: Wonderfully Supportive Parents And Sisters, The Best Husband In The World, Terrific Students I Love Teaching And Hanging Out With, And Above All, My Two Amazing Daughters.