12 May
Latest

Jewish Mothers Know Best

That’s why on this past Mother’s Day, we wanted to honor those Jewish moms who work hard to make sure we eat enough, call enough and know how much they care. We asked you, our readers to share some advice and tidbits your Jewish moms gave you and collected the responses in this “Jewish Mothers Know Best” (belated) Mother’s Day special. Some of the advice seems facetious, many of it is expectedly sensible and it all comes from a place of love.

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24 Jan
Uncategorized

Jewish Mother Redux

By Symi Rom-Rymer We’ve had the bad mother, the free-range mother, and now, thanks to Amy Chua, the Tiger Mother.  From punishing late-night math sessions to grueling practice sessions to complaints over poorly-made birthday cards, Chua suggests that her methods of pushing her children to succeed are what American children need—and are lacking.  A Chinese mother herself—literally and figuratively—Chua writes in the Wall Street Journal that as opposed to Western mothers, “Chinese parents understand that nothing is fun until you're good at it. To get good at anything you have to work, and children on their own never want to work, which is why it is crucial to override their preferences.”   She does let some mothers of other cultures off the hook including Korean, Jamaican, and Irish—although not Jewish—whom she concedes may meet ‘Chinese mother’ standards. Stereotypically,...

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