The term ‘Tiger Mom’ was coined in 2011 when Amy Chua published a book about her parenting style in The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Tiger parenting is a strict way of dealing with kids to prepare them for the future. In short, parents push their kids to the limit so that they will do their best in life. In the fifth episode of Mentalhood, the makers teach viewers an important message which includes confidence in oneself and one’s body image, not pushing kids but finding their happiness in their child’s natural talents, and so on. The entire cast of Mentalhood gives a powerful and clear message to all parents about not being harsh on kids and instead try to be their friends and keep them happy.

The series starts with Meira Sharma (Karisma Kapoor) telling her daughter to prepare for ballet dance. But her daughter gets upset as she tells her that the girls in her group are slim and fit unlike her. Meira makes her daughter understand that it is not about being pretty or skinny but the practice one needs to be perfect at one’s art. Meira later understands that she was wrong as she was trying to impose her ambitions on her daughter without knowing her desires.

Anuja Joshi (AJo) is a perfect mom who wants her kids to be just as perfect as her. In the series, she tries her level best to make her kids excel in every activity. She disallows her kids to have their favourite food and gives them healthier alternatives instead. There is one more instance, wherein Meira pushes her daughter’s limit and forces her to be a ballet dancer. She tries her level best to make her daughter a successful dancer. Parents should not push their kids limit as it results a child going into depression, there is a lot of peer pressure, anger issues and much more. In the series, AJo’s daughter loses her calm as she cannot keep up with her mother’s expectations and does what she wants to. This breaks AJo’s heart and reality hits her hard.

Kids imitate their parents and adopt qualities from them. In the series, Preity is a strict Punjabi mom and a mother to two naughty brats. Preity’s husband ill-treats her and misbehaves with her. Their kids notice his bad behaviour and behave in the same way with Preity. In one of the scenes, Preity is seen scolding her kids for not listening to her and in return, her son tells her to mind her own business. Preity gets angry as she asks is this the way he talks to his mom, to which Vicky says that he has seen his father talking to her in the same way. Kids easily adapt qualities from their elders and a parent should set right example in front of the kids for his better future. Preity tells her husband that he should be disciplined in order to inculcate the same values in their kids.

In the entire series of Mentalhood, the makers have given out the message that parents should not compare their children with others. Sometimes, parents become way more strict with their kids and want them to be good in every activity. In the series, Meira tries her level best to make her daughter part of the ballet dancing group. She takes a stick in her hand and threatens to hit her daughter. She tells her husband that their daughter has to learn ballet as everyone is learning it. Her husband tells her to not be competitive and harsh with their kids. Meira says that ‘Parenthood is dangerous to marriage’. Like Meira, every parent must be experiencing this situation in their lives wherein they have to balance between being a good partner and a good parent.

A parent has to boost their kids’ confidence and make them realize that they are worth everything. A parent needs to be close to their kid and create a strong bond with them. Eventually, a kid will start sharing every bit of their life with their parents. In the series, Meira’s daughter is not confident due to her body image and feels shy. Meira tries her level best to boost her daughter’s confidence and tells the teacher to keep her daughter in extras as she might get a chance to dance. She gets happy as she says that nothing can happen to her daughter as her mother is with her. Meira says it very well that parents do make mistakes as parenting is a system of cheques and balances. Meira tells Preity to be a tiger mom and stand up for herself with her kids. Tiger mom is considered as a negative word but in reality, a tiger mom always tries to protect her kid against all odds and fights with the entire world for her kids’ happiness. In the last scene, Meira tells parents that a mom should strike a balance between push and pull and later she will be unbeatable.