In China, a growing number of moms and dads are reading “Harvard Girl,” a book written by the parents of one of the first Chinese undergraduates to receive a full scholarship from the prestigious school.

According to the Boston Globe story, “Chinese aim for the Ivy League,” the book has become a popular gift for new parents and can be found in many households with teens.

The book’s authors offer advice on how to prepare and discipline their kids for future success and enable them to get to Harvard or some other Ivy League school in America. Their techniques, according to the article, include: challenging their young daughter to hold ice in her hands for long periods so she could improve her endurance; putting toys out of her reach when she was a baby so she could strive harder to get them; making her do homework in the noisiest part of the house to develop her ability to concentrate.

A bit extreme, if you ask me, but I wonder if some of us subscribe to our own unconventional methods in order to encourage top performance in sports, music and academics.

Setting high expectations is often a good thing, but what’s realistic for most kids? And how can parents tell when they’re demanding too much?

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