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Tiger Husband Jed Rubenfeld Speaks Out About Chinese Parenting on GMA
Tiger Husband Jed Rubenfeld
Aaaand here we are, at the start of week 4 of non-stop Tiger Mom news! I wonder how many more Mondays I’ll be talking to you all about Chinese parenting? I guess that depends on how quickly dynamic duo Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld can churn out another book. Rubenfeld was a guest on Good Morning America today, pimping his new novel, The Death Instinct. But of course George Stephanopoulos couldn’t let Rubenfeld get away without mentioning his wife’s book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. (For the record, I bought the book this weekend – at full price in first edition hardcover – so it better be good.)
The folks at GMA are calling Rubenfeld the “Tiger Dad,” but I think “Tiger Husband” is more appropriate, given that in the parenting department – at least as depicted by Chua – he’s more of a gentle lamb. Rubenfeld says, though, that he agreed with his wife’s parenting techniques “99% of the time.” He told Stephanopoulos, “For me these were traditional American values, not Asian. So yes, I was on board with it.” He says he applauds his his wife for her honesty and that the “garbage” incident was overblown.
Rubenfeld admits, “I wasn’t totally crazy about being a character in somebody else’s book. I said that I’d rather be kept in the background.” Interesting. I wonder if Chua’s daughters had any say about their placement in the foreground of their mother’s memoir. That’s highly unlikely, I suppose, given Chua’s authoritarian nature.
What do you think? Is it fair that “Tiger Husband” Jed Rubenfeld was able to keep his life off-limits in the book?
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1 Comment
Korinthia commented on Jan 31 11 at 11:54 amI read that Amy Chua gave her daughters the book to read for them to edit and make comments on if they wanted, so I suspect they are fine with whatever roles they played in it.
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