It’s not surprising that Sophia – the ‘Tiger Cub’ aka overachieving spawn of ‘Tiger Mom’ Amy Chua has been accepted to Harvard, Yale, and probably a few other ivies.  My initial thought is to send happy wishes to Sophia who will soon be released from her minimum security prison mother’s loving supervision to indulge in all sorts of bacchanalian revelry hiding behind those distinguished brick and ivied walls.

But, unfortunately Sophia is not just any overachieving Asian kid escaping from a life of discipline to work, play, and party hard in college.  She’s the daughter of the Tiger mom – Amy Chua  (aka ‘The Panda Express’ of Chinese moms) who did her daughter a real disservice by publicizing her hardcore parenting techniques and children’s talents in a sensationalized media blitz.  It’s one thing to show off your kids in front of other Chinese parents you’re trying to one-up – but it’s another to broadcast it the world in indelible ink and bytes.  So unfortunately in this age of YouTube and Facebook, any time Sophia is out playing beer pong or making out with strangers – i.e.: behaving like any formerly restricted Asian kid, her appropriately irresponsible collegiate activities will be scrutinized by others and probably documented for the rest of world who are chomping at the bit to undermine her mother’s self-aggrandizing claims regarding ideal parenting methods.  I feel bad for Sophia – after all that hard work and dealing with a self-promoting, hyper-controlling, Type-A mom she should at least enjoy her freedom like all the other Asian kids who finally get their big break.  But unfortunately, at least for the first year she’ll probably have to repress her inner Lindsay Lohan or Asian Girl Gone Wild until people return to associating tigers with Frosted Flakes instead of hardcore ivy-league Chinese mothers aka ILCM…