The other day in biology class, my teacher was telling us about his daughter's volleyball tournament. He told us about how they kept losing every game by large margins but how they kept their spirits up regardless. He described how happy his daughter and her teammates were at the end of the night and how proud he was of them. He was smiling the entire time and seemed truly happy. Then, one of my Asian friends leaned over and whispered "white people" into my ear. I began to laugh because I realized what she was saying was so true.
The idea of my own Asian parents being genuinely happy with me not being able to achieve the results they desire is almost laughable. Not all Asian parents are like this, and my own parents are far more liberal than most, but if I were to generalize, my generalizations would not be far from reality. I think there are pros and cons to both styles of parenting. To start with, I think celebrating your kids efforts, even if they fail, teaches them to not value themselves on arbitrary numbers like points or scores. It leads to happier people. On the other hand, that may cause them to be less motivated to perform better next time. Constantly pushing your kids to do better and never acting truly satisfied with them also has its upsides; your kids end up perpetually striving for improvement. However, it doesn't keep them happy in the process. As with most things, I think balance is key.
That being said, Mr. Sharp is the kind of person you meet only a handful of times in your life. Everyone loves hearing all of his stories about his adorable kids. Perhaps we should all take a page out of his book.
