Hothouse Hong Kong is spawning a new breed of monster parents

Alice Wu says a mother’s advice to aim for a January baby – in the mistaken belief that it will give the child a competitive edge – reflects all that has gone wrong with our education system

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A child enjoys himself at the Claude Monet exhibition at Hong Kong Heritage Museum in Sha Tin. It’s natural and noble for parents to want to give their children the best chance possible in life. Photo: Felix Wong

Published: 10:03am, 26 Jun 2016Updated: 10:03am, 26 Jun 2016

The world can always count on uber-competitve Hongkongers to overdo just about everything, and parenting is no exception.

Hongkongers have taken the phrase “win at the starting line” as the guiding principle for this competitive sport. Parents here believe giving their children a head start is the key to success. Toddlers must win their spot in elite kindergartens by first winning a place in the right playground, and learning as many languages, sports and musical instruments as possible.

Hong Kong parents need to take a long, hard look at themselves – and stop piling pressure on their kids

Step aside, Tiger Mum Amy Chua; we now have “Tuen Mun Irene”. And thanks to TVB, her secret weapon is out: “Win at the moment of ejaculation”. That’s right. Forget the starting line, Hong Kong kids must be “winners” as soon as sperm meets egg! The competition is now so fierce that two-year-olds dabbling in music, dance, sports and languages no longer stand out. So now, the delivery date for the baby must be given due consideration.

Apparently, enough people believe that children born in January have an edge over those born later in the same year. So, that means the competitive mating season ended on May 10. Best save your eggs and swimmers for spring 2017!

A child takes part in a school place allocation exercise last year. If the Hong Kong system didn’t determine a child’s future by the age of two, parents would not go to these lengths. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Tiger parents forgetting that kids are people, not projects

Ever since TVB aired the programme last week, the station and “Tuen Mun Irene” have been lambasted. Denounce them all we want, but monster parenting has become a reality for Hong Kong. What “Tuen Mun Irene” espouses may be extreme, but discouraging that sort of mindset is going to take a lot more than ridicule. We can worry about maternity wards filled to capacity every January, or we can admit, once and for all, that our education system is broken.

Policymakers should be losing sleep over ‘Tuen Mun Irene’