I grew up in Malaysia.
My sister and I were trained from when we were quite young to be good girls.
We were both usually obedient and well behaved
. As such, we rarely got into trouble for behavioral issues.
Nevertheless, we were still routinely punished.
Why?
Well, this is what makes my story unique from the dozens I have read.
Our mother was our disciplinarian.
She was very strict and micro-managed all aspects of our lives until we graduated from school.
Academic work was of paramount importance.
Our mother wanted us to not just do well, but excel academically – and she pushed us really hard on this front.
You might have heard of the ‘Asian Tiger Mom’ – well, our mother was certainly one of those!
Growing up, my sister and I were not allowed any sleepovers, we were rarely granted permission to watch television and we could play outside with others only at the weekends.
We came home from school, had our snacks, and went straight to doing our homework.