If you had the choice of either punishing your child for their mistakes or just encourage them to do better next time, which would you choose? In most instances, parents will choose the second choice of just encouraging their child, but that wouldn't be the most effective form of parenting, with the intent of having your child succeed in life. There is a universal debate of whether it is necessary to punish your child or not for them to do well in life, and if you have the intentions of wanting your child to do well, then you would punish them. In the article, “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior”, by Amy Chua from The Wall Street Journal, she explains to us why the way “Chinese mothers” raise their children, is in fact superior to the way “Western parents” do so. While the article, “How to Raise a Creative Child”, by Adam Grant from The New York Times, has an opposite view on the topic saying that the way to having children succeed is to “back off” and let them learn from their mistakes on their own. The way Chinese mothers raise their children isn't the most effective, but how they provide punishments to their child is. With this being said, the most effective parents will enforce their child with an adequate punishment for the mistake he or she made, while not overdoing the punishment, but will also reward them when they demonstrate acts of good behavior. There are three main components that are demonstrated from parents that follow the effective way of parenting. They are, even if a child is oblivious to something that they did wrong, they should receive a punishment, but it shouldn't be over exaggerated, if a child usually demonstrates good behavior, then there is no need for them to receive a punishment, unless what they did was drastic, and the last one being, a child should receive credit for when they do something good, or else they may see demonstrating good behavior as useless to them.
