Kiasu Parents is a popular parenting forum, presumably for parents of the kiasu persuasion.

One of its founders is former software developer Soon Lee Young.

And Thursday was a milestone of sorts for Soon, as her son collected his PSLE results.

He got all As.

Great news right? You literally cannot do any better alphabetically (since a star is a symbol).

Nope.

While Soon acknowledged in an article on Today that she was happy about the 4 As, she was disappointed with his "low" T-score, 229.

Disappointment = Lesson

When her son asked if she was angry at him, Soon told him he would not be getting the DS he had wanted before sitting for the exams.

This was because he had fallen short of the 250-mark target he had set for himself (Sorry, we initially said Soon had set the target for him. We got that wrong). From the article:

"She hopes that this disappointment would be a lesson for him given how he did not study as hard as he knew he should."

Disappointed reaction

Singaporeans also felt the disappointment Soon preached.

Some were furious at the mom's parenting techniques:

With others feeling that 229 was ok, what:

And that the score was worthy of a Nintendo DS:

While some felt the promise of a gift tied to results sent the wrong message:

And one proved that optimism isn't dead in Singapore:

But it's not about the DS

There is of course only so much online commenters can truly understand about the situation on the ground, and judging the parenting of a complete stranger might do more harm than good.

But more so than the withholding of a DS, perhaps the most jarring part of the story came from the initial exchange between mother and son.

He had not asked if he could get the DS with his PSLE score, but rather, whether the mother was angry.

Fearful instead of celebratory.

Which is a pretty odd way to react when you had just gotten 4 As.

All screenshots from Today.

If you like what you read, follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get the latest updates.