Dear Tiger Mothers,

Hello, we are your very grateful, albeit emotionally and mentally tired children.

I write this letter to you today because there are a few things I would like to say.

First off, I must sincerely thank you for all the hard work and investment you have put into our lives. With all your hard work, dedication, and constant will to prepare us for a fantastic future, we have gotten to where we are today. We know that you have sacrificed your life, your own free will and your own hobbies to get us to where we are today and we couldn't be more grateful.

Second, I would also like to apologize for any times when we may have acted rude, and/or ungrateful. It was never our intention to hurt you in any way, it's just that we were tired and stressed, and you kept badgering us about our day, about our grades, about the clubs we were joining and about almost anything.

Last but definitely not least, I would like to implore you, to please give us back our wings.

Yes, we will forever remain your child, your baby, and possibly the most wonderful being (granted you don't hate us to death, given what has happened in the past) that has ever happened to you, but we also need our own time. We need to make our own mistakes. We need to make our own decisions. And we need to learn to fly with our own wings, not with you holding onto our backs and flying for us. Let us stumble. Let us fall. Let us cry for your protection. But at this point, please let us be.

Let us find ourselves without holding your hand. Let us go through heartbreak with a mother who doesn't make it into a life lesson. And let us find true friends without you judging the friends we have now, based on your intuition.

Perhaps the biggest reason why all those years I felt as though I hated you, fought you, even cried about you, was because you never gave me my own time to shine. You never let me make my own decisions and you never let me choose what I wanted to do based on my own interests. It was forever what looked good on my resume, what kind of students the colleges were looking for and what kind of a person I could be to attract a worthy mate who could take care of me in the future. It was never just about me.

I love you mother. Forever. But there are times when I wish you could stop being a Tiger mother and just be a mother. A mother who cared about my happiness in the things I was doing. A mother who worried less about my uncertain future and more about my immediate present.

However, truly, I am thankful to you. For all that you have done. Just please give me back my own wings. I think you have confiscated them for long enough.

Love,

Your now-grown cubs