Chua establishes what she means by a “Chinese mother” (3-5) and that she never let her children have sleepovers or playdates or receive a grade lower than an A. She notes that Chinese mothers are different from “Western overscheduling soccer moms” (5) because Chinese parents believe that academics always come first. Chua concedes that these are not monolithic terms and invokes a series of quantitative studies to demonstrate that Chinese parenting and American parenting are quite different in values, approaches, and results.

Chua describes her precociousness and easygoing temperament of her eldest daughter, Sophia, and contemplates how Sophia demonstrates the essences of both her mother’s Chinese heritage and her father’s Jewish heritage. Since Chua does not speak Mandarin (her dialect is Hokkien Chinese), she hires a nanny to teach Sophia the language. When Sophia is three years old, she has her first piano lesson. Soon after, her little sister, Louisa, is born.

Chua describes her second daughter, Louisa, who goes by Lulu. Unlike Sophia, Lulu is demanding and forceful. Chua contemplates the role of the Chinese Zodiac on her family’s personalities. She was born in the year of the Tiger, which she believes explains her fearlessness.