

A tiger mom from Chongqing has been making her nine-year-old son study for 18 hours each day according to a regime which includes after-school lessons, weekend classes and music practice.

Chongqing Times reports that the boy, nicknamed Little P, follows a detailed schedule which generated controversy online after it was shared on Chinese social media. He is woken up by his mother in the morning at 5 a.m. and is asleep in the evening by 11 p.m., allowing him only 6 hours of sleep each night.

During weekdays Little P has to take extra English classes and complete all of his homework after school. On the weekends he spends all his time practising piano or calligraphy, going swimming or working through exercises for the World Championship Mathematics Competition.

His mother, surnamed Liu, defended her decision to make her son work so hard by claiming that her father had brought her up the same way. She said that she had not expected the schedule to cause so much controversy.

Netizens were quick to condemn Little P’s mother for what they saw as the joyless experience she was forcing upon her child, stating that he only has one opportunity to be young and innocent.

Unsurprisingly, Liu disagrees with the online community. “If he wants to have an easier life in the future, he has to work hard from an early age,” Liu said. “My dad told me the only thing a child can do is to study.”

Liu says that her schedule is designed to improve every aspect of her son’s life. For example, she believes that studying the piano will “help him to find a girlfriend” in the future, while math problems will “hone his logistic-thinking ability.”

Previously on Shanghaiist:

‘Tiger mom’ jailed for six months after beating foster son over unfinished homework

Watch: Tiger mom makes six-year-old daughter kowtow on street following badminton practice



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