@sjiveru That's a MASSIVE amount of speculation and blame put on the mother. Before I get into it, let me give you another example. Have you ever heard of a parent who required their child to learn to play an instrument? Or a parent who required their child to learn another language? That's literally a parent telling their child "you are going to pursue these specific goals that I have given you". I can flip what you said onto you. Telling Lian Yi to be involved in dance was a way to guide Lian Yi and teach her to be involved in group activities, to work hard, to commit yourself to an activity, etc. The mother even says that she wanted Lian Yi to be "normal". In the same way that a parent who forces their child to play an instrument doesn't necessarily want their child to grow up to be a musician, the mother doesn't necessarily want Lian Yi to be a dancer. Yes, this is all speculation, but it's all within reason.
Then you frame it as belittling? The mother is explicitly concerned about Lian Yi's future. She just got suspended from school for a week for fighting after she had previously been lying about joining the dance club! The mother's concern is legitimate. The way she talks to Lian Yi is DEFINITELY criticizable, but you're acting like the mother has no reason whatsoever to do anything that she is doing.
"the reason is because the mom's attitude had long since made it clear that Lian Yi wasn't free to do what she wanted to do" Okay, yeah, speculation. Lian Yi literally lied to the mother about joining a dance club. It takes two people to communicate. Yes, definitely criticize the mother. BUT ALSO see the reasons why she did what she did. See that Lian Yi has apparently never taken the time to tell her mother she doesn't want to dance. Communication requires two people.
"Her mom's obviously overly controlling attitude precipitated the problem in the first place" Again, massive speculation and placing the blame on the mother without understanding the mother's reasoning.
@Ugga Normal at least means not lying to the mother about joining a dance club and instead joining a diving club, and then getting into a fight at school, and then getting suspended for a week.
EVERY parent teaches their child a specific way of being normal. Whether it works or not depends, but that's not something unique to this.
Yes, the mother didn't ask Lian Yi if she was happy or not. I agree. That is bad. However, look at my example above. Lots of parents force their children to learn an instrument because it teaches them certain skills. Lots of parents force their children EVEN IF the child hates that activity. Sometimes, yes, that's a bad thing. Sometimes, though, it turns out for the better. It helps the child. In and of itself, it is not unreasonable.
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TL;DR In the end, all I'm asking is that people understand where the mother is coming from. With the one exception of the comments about the father which I have zero idea about, what the mother said wasn't completely unreasonable. Let me be clear. EVEN IF you are not unreasonable, you could still be wrong. Here, the mother knows certain things. Her daughter lied about joining the dance club. Her daughter joined the diving club. Her daughter got into a fight. Her daughter got suspended for one week.
As a result of that, her concern and her wordings make sense EVEN IF they reach the wrong conclusion of "quit the diving club". It still makes sense and is reasonable even if the mother is still wrong.
And just to be clear, I did say above that the mother is not good because she didn't actually consider Lian Yi's feelings. I fully admit that. All I'm saying is that people are overly harsh when it should be dialed back. Yes, she's wrong. Not super, ultra wrong.