Posted on 04/15/2011 11:54:23 PM PDT by TheDingoAteMyBaby
Controversy over the Wall Street Journal's "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior" book excerpt by Yale professor and author Amy Chua heated up even further today, as a Jewish author and mother responded with a new essay in the same newspaper championing a more relaxed approach to parenting.
Titled "In Defense of the Guilty, Ambivalent, Preoccupied Western Mom," Ayelet Waldman's essay humorously outlines differences between what she sees as the lackadaisical approach taken by western mothers and the strict regimen Chinese mothers use on their children that Chua discusses.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
This was pointed out in AN IDIOT ABROAD by the title character, ( although of course he is very far from it! ) In one scene he was so disgusted by the eating behavior of a nearby Chinese diner, that he actually gagged. Nevertheless he observed philosophically, “maybe they’re right, I don’t know.”
And they are the loudest people on earth. Don’t get stuck on the bus with them in Chinatown. Your ears will explode, lol!
LMAO..Yes to all of the above. I spend about 12 weeks a year in China, there is not much if anything I haven’t seen.
Just imagine if these folks actually HAD a Jewish Mother. She might actually have said:
MONA LISA’S JEWISH MOTHER:
“This you call a smile, after all the money your father and I spent on
braces?”
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS’ JEWISH MOTHER:
“I don’t care what you’ve discovered, you still should have written!”
MICHELANGELO’S JEWISH MOTHER:
“Why can’t you paint on walls like other children? Do you know how hard
it is to get this junk off the ceiling?”
NAPOLEON’S JEWISH MOTHER:
“All right, if you’re not hiding your report card inside your jacket,
take your hand out of there and show me!”
ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S JEWISH MOTHER:
“Again with the hat! Why can’t you wear a baseball cap like the other
kids?”
GEORGE WASHINGTON’S JEWISH MOTHER:
“Next time I catch you throwing money across thePotomac, you can kiss
your allowance good-bye!”
THOMAS EDISON’S JEWISH MOTHER:
“Of course I’m proud that you invented the electric light bulb. Now
turn it off and go to sleep!”
PAUL REVERE’S JEWISH MOTHER:
“I don’t care where you think you have to go, young man,midnightis long
past your curfew!”
And then these two, who really did have Jewish mothers:
ALBERT EINSTEIN’S JEWISH MOTHER:
“But it’s your senior photograph! Couldn’t you have done something
about your hair?”
MOSES’ JEWISH MOTHER:
“That’s a good story! Now tell me where you’ve really been for the last
forty years.”
Jewish Mother’s Answering Machine:
If you want chicken soup, press 1;
If you want matzoh balls with the soup, press 2;
If you want varnishkas, dial 3;
If you want knishes press 4;
If you want to know how am I feeling, you are calling the wrong number since nobody ever asks me how I am feeling.
Last Wishes
A woman in Brooklyn decided to prepare her will and make her final requests. She told her rabbi she had two final requests. First, she wanted to be cremated, and second, she wanted her ashes scattered all over the shopping mall.
“Why the shopping mall?” asked the rabbi.
“Then I’ll be sure my daughters visit me twice a week.”
No Pressure!
A man is laying on the operating table, about to be operated on by his son, the surgeon. The father says, “Son, think of it this way... If anything happens to me, your mother is coming to live with you.”
Mrs. Goldberg, age 75, went to see a gynecologist for the first time in her life. She was asked to step behind a screen and remove her clothes so the doctor could examine her. At some point during the examination, Mrs. Goldberg said, “Excuse me, doctor, can I ask you a question?”
“Certainly,” the doctor replied.
“Tell me,” she said. “Your mother knows that from this you make a living?”
Rugalach, a Love Story – A Touching Story of Love and Marriage
An elderly Jewish man lay dying in his bed. In death’s agony he suddenly smelled the aroma of his favorite Rugalach wafting up the stairs. He gathered his remaining strength and lifted himself from the bed.
Leaning against the wall, he slowly made his way out of the bedroom and, with even greater effort, forced himself down the stairs, gripping the railing with both hands. With labored breath, he leaned against the door frame, gazing into the kitchen.
Were it not for death’s agony, he would have thought himself already in heaven. There, spread out on paper towels on the kitchen table were literally hundreds of his favorite Rugalach. Was it heaven? Or was it one final act of love from his devoted wife, seeing to it that he left this world a happy man?
Mustering one great final effort, he threw himself toward the table, landing on his knees in a rumpled posture. His parched lips parted; the wondrous taste of the pastry was already in his mouth, seemingly bringing him back to life.
The aged and withered hand, shaking, made its way to a piece at the edge of the table, when it was suddenly smacked with a spatula by his wife.
“Stay out of those,” she said. “They’re for the after.”
A young Jewish Mother walks her son to the school bus corner on his first day of kindergarten.
” Behave, my bubaleh” she says. “Take good care of yourself and think about your Mother, tataleh!”
” And come right back home on the bus, schein kindaleh.”
“Your Mommy loves you a lot, my ketsaleh!”
At the end of the school day the bus comes back and she runs to her son and hugs him.
” So what did my pupaleh learn on his first day of school?”
The boy answers, “I learned my name is David.”
Four Jewish brothers left home for college. They became successful doctors, and lawyers and prospered. Some years later, they chatted after having dinner together. They discussed the gifts that they were able to give to their elderly mother who lived far away in another city. The first said, “I had a big house built for Mama.” The second said, “I had a hundred thousand dollar theater built in the house.” The third said, “I had my Mercedes dealer deliver her an SL600 with chauffeur.”
The fourth said, “Listen to this. You know how Mama loved reading the Torah. And you know, too, she can’t read anymore because she can’t see very well. I met this Rabbi who told me about a parrot that can recite the entire Torah. It took twenty rabbis 12 years to teach him. I had to pledge to contribute $100,000 a year for 20 years to the temple. Let me tell you...it was worth it. All Mama has to do is name a chapter and verse and the parrot will recite it.”
The other brothers were impressed.
After the holidays Mom sent out her Thank You notes.
She wrote:
Milton, The house you built is so huge. I live in only one room, but I have to clean the whole house. Thanks anyway.
Marvin, I am too old to travel. I stay home, I have my groceries delivered, so I never use the Mercedes...and the driver you hired is a Nazi. The thought was good. Thanks.
Menachim, You give me an expensive theater with Dolby sound, it could hold 50 people, but all my friends are dead, I’ve lost my hearing and I’m nearly blind. I’ll never use it. Thank you for the gesture just the same.
Dearest Melvin, You were the only son to have the good sense to give a little thought to your gift. The chicken was delicious. Thank you.
A Jewish man calls his mother in Florida. “Mom, and how are you.”
” Not too good,” says the mother. “I’ve been very weak.”
The son says, “Why are you so weak?”
She says, “Because, I haven’t eaten in 38 days.”
” Mama,” the man says, “that’s terrible. Why haven’t you eaten in 38 days?”
The mother answers, “Because I didn’t want my mouth to be filled with food if you should call.”
Especially when they pay for the bonds, I imagine.
Thus the old cliché about Chinese fire drills.
Tiger Mom, Jewish moms-—both too stifling.
Let kids be kids. For a few years anyway.
Children tied to a wall for up to 10 hours a day while their parents work in a brick factory in Zhejiang Province.
Children on leashes tied to steel bars. What sort of decent parent could do this to a child?
Little boy tied to a wall with a leash while ignored by his parents. How can any good Mother know her son cries out and ignore him?
That looks like a pedicure bath.
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