Translated…
Wu is my daughter’s kindergarten classmate, his mother has a competitive edge, at a field trip Q&A session, she kept poking her son’s back, urged him to raise his hands to answer the questions, so he could get the prizes, it impressed me deeply.
Started in his first grade year, Wu’s mother had signed him up for afterschool activities: English, chess, piano, science camp, seven days a week, and, every summer and winter breaks, he’d signed up for the advance courses too. The mother and child would always ate their meals in the car, then, rushed all over the places.
As her son was in class, Wu’s mother would wait for him in the car, or stroll aimlessly on the streets, and, every time, they couldn’t get home, until past ten. One time, as Wu’s mom was driving when she’d called me up, I’d heard Wu crying in the background, because after school, he’s too tired, but still couldn’t rest, he must go to English classes. Wu’s mom told me, that she’d sacrificed her free time, worked so hard, so her son could get into his first choice of high school.
Wu’s mother is extremely active, and would ask around to find out, what sort of activities would be helpful to the education in the future, and would write down an assortment of statements, asked Wu to recite them before bedtime, so he could score high on his essays. Once she’d mentioned that her son no longer followed her words anymore, and would talk back to her, or get angry at her a lot. I’d consoled her, to not jam pack his schedules, so he’d become, burned out, she’d immediately responded, “How would that work? If I’d stopped the lessons, then, all the money I’d poured into his studies, would be like, money thrown, into the oceans”.
Wu was excellent in his elementary years, earned a ton of awards, accolades in various competitions, and, he’d gotten in, to the private noble middle school as well, he’d gone on the path his mother mapped out for him. Later on, I’d heard, that although he’d taken a preview course in the cram schools before classes even started, Wu started falling behind in the private middle schools, and was having a difficult time. The cram school instructor even bluntly told his mother, that he would not be fitting to stay at the private middle school, but, Wu’s mother who wanted to win wouldn’t accept this, and so, she’d hired a private tutor for him.
Last year, as the entrance exam grades were posted for high school, Wu not only didn’t fit his mother’s wishes of automatically getting admitted into the private high school, nor did he get in his first choice, in the end, he’d entered into a bottom school.
Faced with how her expectations fell short, Wu’s mother was furious and disappointed, told him, “Had I known you’d get into this school, then, why must I spend all that money, to send you to that noble private middle school, I’d tossed all my money into the oceans!”
Instead, I’d believed, that maybe, Wu is finally free, and he could, finally enjoy, that simple way of learning that he’d never had the chance of experiencing before.
So, this, would be a story of a TIGER mom, who’d wanted NOTHING but the BEST for her own son, and, she had her expectations burst, because the son didn’t get a high enough grade, and, it’s still, all her fault, the mother was too eager, to drag the son toward success, without giving him what he should’ve been allowed to have: a carefree and happy childhood, and that just shows, how well pushing your kid works out, doesn’t it???
Life, the Obstacle Course 