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Social skills are learned techniques used to communicate and interact with people, both verbally and non-verbally. By using gestures, body language, and our personal appearance, it makes it easy for us get our point across with out any hesitation or questioning. Humans are inherently sociable creatures, and throughout our evolution as humans we have made ways to communicate our ideas, messages, and affection with others. . Communication is a learning process, which means, people do not know how to communicate until our family teaches us these skills. Chua elaborates on her list of ideas that she insists her girls follow, which includes social activities such as not being able to attend sleepovers or have play dates. "Children on their own never want to work, which is why it is crucial to override their performance"(Chua 263). Chua keeps implying that she knows what is best for her kids, but how do we really know what is best if parents never give their child a chance to express their wants and feelings. Many parents do not even truly know their own children because they tune out what they do not necessarily want to hear. Socialization teaches us how to manage stress, resolve conflict with others, and work with different social norms. Without this skill, it is hard for people to maintain relationships, communication, and could potentially cost someone a job. As a parent, if we restrict our children from social interaction in their primary years of learning and growing, we are essentially hurting them in the future. .
In the New York Times article called Amy Chua is a Wimp, David Brooks explains his opinions and concerns about Amy Chua's book. Brooks emphasizes the importance of participating and socializing in groups. "This skill set is not taught formally but it is imparted through arduous experiences"(Brooks 270). Brooks argues that these are the tough experiences Chua shelters her daughters from by making them bury their heads in their textbooks.
As Freud suggests in his 1919 essay, the "uncanny- arouses an experience of "dread and horror,"" partially because the familiar (heimlich) evokes the unfamiliar (unheimlich), rendering the comfortable and "homey- uncomfortable and alien (224). ... Says John to his mother, "We are doing an act; we are playing at being you and father- (89), as if gender roles are performed. ...
