EP14: Asian Parenting, Bamboo Sticks & Quiet Love: Between Discipline and Healing

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What does it mean to be raised by love that sometimes hurts—and to still carry that love into adulthood?

In this powerful episode of Pondering Pandaz, Jayden and Ryan dive into their childhood experiences with Asian parenting, where care and control often came hand-in-hand. From family dinners cooked by grandparents to slippers, feather dusters, and “don’t flinch or I’ll hit harder,” they explore the spectrum of discipline—from well-intentioned structure to physical punishment and emotional trauma.

But this isn’t just a story of pain. It’s also about memory, resilience, and the subtle moments of love that threaded through it all. Jayden shares raw reflections on growing up inside a chaotic family business, where video games and beatings coexisted. Ryan opens up about passive emotional control and the pressure to be a “good kid” in a system that rarely asked what he wanted.

Together, they reflect on how these experiences shaped their identity, relationships, and evolving views on parenthood. They don’t offer easy answers—but they hold space for truth, growth, and the possibility of change.

Whether you were raised by tiger parents or soft silence, this episode offers comfort, connection, and a gentle invitation to reflect on how we were raised—and who we want to become.

00:00 – Welcome to Pondering Pandaz: Parenting with love, confusion, and contradiction
01:05 – East vs. West childhoods: arcade bedrooms, boarding schools & grandma dinners
11:00 – Boarding school drop-off: grief in a first-grade goodbye
15:00 – Piano lessons, air cadets, and “extracurriculars we didn’t choose”
22:00 – When discipline becomes punishment: feather dusters, slippers & silence
28:00 – Canada’s child services & the blurry line between care and harm
33:00 – “Who gave you the courage to do that?”: The language of fear
40:00 – “I’m beating you, but I hurt too”: twisted love and generational trauma
46:00 – Education pressure & emotional detachment at home
53:00 – Rebuilding relationships: Can we be friends with our parents?
57:00 – Advice to future parents: coach with trust, not control
01:00:30 – Letting go, showing up, and loving differently