Virtual Voices  Mothering: East meets West   When The Wall
Street Journal receives 5,700 comments on an article (the most
ever received about any article in WSJ history), one takes note.
Especially when one is a mother and the article is about
mothering.  Amy Chua's Jan. 8 essay, "Why Chinese Mothers Are
Superior" (the WSJ, not Ms. Chua, chose the smug title), says
Eastern mothering methods are best. She was raised by a father
who called her "garbage" when she acted up and is raising her
own two daughters the same way, saying what didn't hurt her
won't hurt her girls. Her daughters, one a violinist and the
other a concert pianist who has played at Carnegie Hall, bear
witness that her way-shaming, hard driving, and strict, with no
play dates, sleepovers, or extracurricular activities-is best.
As a follow-up, Ayelet Waldman, author of Bad Mother, represents
the West in her WSJ essay "In Defense of the Guilty, Ambivalent,
Preoccupied Western Mom." She says children need occasionally to
quit activities in which