"Tiger Mom" Amy Chua is continuing to ruffle feathers with her controversial parenting style that discourages praise of mediocre efforts and overindulging children.
Recently, the "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" author traveled to Houston, Texas, where she spoke to attendants of the Society for the Performing Arts Fall Luncheon on Oct. 26.
CultureMap Houston reports that Chua won over the crowd at the luncheon with this compliment:
"I have never in my life been in the same room with so many beautiful, stunning women. You make New Yorkers look like hicks."
In addition to speaking about her parenting methods, Chua dispelled some misconceptions about her book that have surfaced with the media frenzy surrounding it.
For example, Chua says she never claimed that Chinese mothers were better than American mothers, as a Wall Street Journal article suggested.
Chua also shared some of her thoughts on parenting with Houston's KTRK.
"You can tell your child you're the best, you're perfect all you want -- but I think that true self esteem has to be earned the old-fashioned way by overcoming a challenge, kind of proving to yourself that you can do something you thought you couldn't," Chua told the station.
The Tiger Mom's strict parenting style has amassed a large number of opponents, and Chua even acknowledged that some might consider her to be the most controversial mom in the country.
"...I can't believe it," she told KTRK. "And also people who know me kind of can't believe it."
Among her opponents is Andrea Rosen, a mother who brands herself as the antidote to the Tiger Mom. She calls her own parenting methods the "Purr of the Pussycat Mama."
Rosen believes that parents should let their children discover and explore what makes them happy and go along with it -- not the other way around, as Chua's book suggests.
Despite the controversy surrounding Chua's methods, the author's two daughters, now 19 and 15, say they plan to raise their own children in a similar manner, according to the KTRK interview.
To hear more tips from the Tiger Mom watch the full interview from KTRK below.