[quote=IT.MOM]I believe children definitely need the “pushes”. I know a Chinese Mom who sits with her 7 year old kid on the piano forte every night for one hour no matter how busy she is, no wonder the kid becomes such a musical prodigy. This website talks alot about investment. And I think children is my biggest investment in my life.[/quote]

i disagree. I recall a bunch of parents that ended up “pushing” their kids into harvard…Only for them to flunk out the first year when their parents couldn’t go to college with them… 🙁

Heard quite a number of stories about this.

Let’s face it. some kids are smart, and while need some initial pushing, a prolonged push leads to rebellion. On the other hand, if your kid isn’t smart, pushing isn’t going to make the smarter. Might as well have just be average, and in america an “average professional” person isn’t too bad.

My sibling use to piss off all of her peer’s friends. Because she was naturally smart and yet had pretty decent work ethics, but nevertheless not by any means a bookworm..I recall how she use to go out during the weekdays, party hard, and still come home and kick every one else’s asses who was at home studying made. Her admissions went like Berkeley, MIT,etc.
Then she did the ultimate fobby thing by listening to parents to major in “bioengineering” which she had no business of getting into. Oh boy, was that a mistake. 1/2 semester at Berkeley and nearly flopping, she transferred to business/economics. Then ended up being an banker..The rest is history.. Needless to say, purely from the financial aspects, she made the right decision.

Strong work ethics : good
Expecting perfection from every kid: unrealistic.

Needless to say, I think you really only have problems if your kid is lazy or has a strong sense of unjustified entitlement, which I think many americans have these days…