Mothers who have imposed an exhausting regime of extra homework and plenty of impressive extracurricular activities on their kids are unhappier than their more relaxed counterparts according to new research.
These pushy parents, often known as "Tiger Parents" or "Tiger Mums" put a lot of emphasis on their children getting off to a great start in life by pushing them to do better than their peers both in school and in activities outside of school as well.
The thing is, much as we all want our kids to do well in life, being overly concerned with additional reading and advanced maths sessions and weekly piano and Mandarin lessons are leaving both parents
and children feeling exhausted and overwhelmed, academics found.
The research, by Queen Mary University of London, is according to the
Daily Mail the first ever to be published on demanding parents, and really put into question whether or not being a pushy parent pays off in the long run. In fact, the researchers pointed out that children often suffer if their household is dominated by "stress and unhappiness."
This is what Almudena Sevilla, professor of economics at the university, told
The Times: "Our results suggest that there may be a link between what are regarded as the best parenting practices and more miserable motherhood. The findings raise questions about whether this accompanying maternal unhappiness may be harmful to children, given what we already know, for example, about the detrimental impact of postnatal depression."
The study went through a large set of US data on the wellbeing and happiness of mothers.
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