but isn't interesting how much easier and clearer the conversation was when we were using the term with strong racial/cultural connotations. Maybe it's easier to condemn or "other" people if you use tiger mom, but people have to examine themselves more carefully when using the term hothousing? And by the way, I'm very appreciative of people for switching so easily and agreeably. Every little bit makes a difference, right?
The term "tiger mom" was unambiguously defined by Amy Chua's book, and became well-known through controversy and mass media.
Meanwhile "hothousing" has ranged in definition, sometimes aligning with references to the aggressive, competitive tiger-parenting methods of raising "trophy kids", other times used as a reference to finding/reproducing/maintaining an environment conducive for a child to thrive (thinking of Orchid Children,
Eide blog post), and therefore hot-house can be somewhat ambiguous and highly subject to one's knowledge base.
For this thread "hot housing" was paired with micro-managing, over-involved, omni-present "helicopter parent" in the subject line, lending clarity.
But the term "
tiger parenting", like the phrases "is it a
cheetah", and "the
tortoise and the
hare" refer to observable behavioral clues, embodied by the animals they mention.
