About a typical Asian Mom and Korean "goose daddys"

So here is my first posting to my Asian Mommy Blog.

A few things about me:

I am an Asian Mom with two kids, a boy 13 and a girl 10. I’m interested in exploring the issues we all face in raising children in two cultures, how that experience affected me, and how in turn, I am influencing my children –for better or for worse. Because in the space between the Western and Asian cultures we all know there is a lot of value but sometimes danger in the form of–—too much pressure.

I work in international television, development and reality television production so occasionally I may segue into discussions about media from the Asian Mom perspective..

Outside of working in entertainment, I fit most of the other Asian Mom stereotypes, I went to an Ivy League College; I started out pre-med; I am a great multi-tasker; I volunteer as the Principal of a weekend Chinese language school; and I sometimes schedule my children within an inch of their lives. I also smother them with love and kisses to the point where they run away screaming.

When I was working in international television distribution I heard many anecdotal stories of Korean parents who send their kids abroad, either to the US or to Australia, to escape the brutal pressures of the education system in South Korea. In some cases, the kids are sent to boarding school or to live with a relative living in another country like the US or Australia. Sometimes, the father sends the mom away with all the kids. These dads are called “goose dads” and suffer from depression and loneliness. I can’t imagine what life is like for them. Nonetheless, the Korean education system is brutal and kids spend most of their waking hours cramming for university entrance exams because the right school is the ticket to the right job, income, wife, family and on and on. Until that system changes, if I were in that situation I might even consider moving away to get out from under such stifling pressure.

I wondered what it was like to spend extended periods of time away from your parents. What is the appropriate age and big questions is it worth it? I wanted to find out more and researched some stories....