Michael Miu is Troubled By Daughter’s Wild Ways
Michael Miu (苗僑偉) may be a master when it comes to acting and can easily produce a turnaround for TVB’s ratings, as is observed in A Change of Heart <好心作怪>, but it seems he is having trouble taming his eldest daughter, Phoebe Miu (苗彤), who is having the wildest time away from her parents in Canada.
Michael and wife, Jaime Chik (戚美珍) have always been the kind of parents children dream of. Adopting an open approach, they let their daughter and son develop their own thinking and ideas. However, their parenting style seemed to create a backlash with their elder daughter, Phoebe. The twenty-two-year-old possessed her parents’ height and good looks, and is a wild party animal who loves to wear revealing clothing and party the nights away.
Currently studying at the University of British Columbia in Canada, Phoebe’s partying lifestyle is well publicized. Alcohol was her constant companion at such parties. Photos of Phoebe in intimate embraces with various boyfriends circulated on the Internet. She often posted photographs of herself in skimpy bikinis.
Michael and Jaime are worried by Phoebe’s behavior. The couple are now at a loss on how to rein their free-spirited daughter without turning into the controlling parents they swore not to be.
Source: East Week
This article is written by Karen for JayneStars.com.
22? How time flies. All children when they leave home for college or universities seem to enter into the “girls gone wild” mode. Maybe she will go through this phase and smarten up. I didn’t even know she has alcohol problem but I read all in college kinda get into that, even get drunk and pass out in public. Instead of being friends, be parents. Be stern. Cut her allowances. Do something before a sex tape or a drunk surfaces.
Funn,
I believe that Michael and Jamie had sent their children to overseas boarding school before their university years. Remember reading it in passing in an older, separate interview.
Perhaps they wanted their children to learn independence by letting them leave home young, but this also decreased their parental influence in the formative teenage years.
Also difficult to influence her when she is in Canada. If they were truly concerned, they would have brought Phoebe back to Hong Kong earlier.
Cut the allowance will do. Sometimes tough love is the way to go. But that is if she is doing something out of ordinary. So far her behaviour is like every college student. As long as it is not Lohan territory, it should be fine. She did grow up westernised?
But beware of the dreaded sex tape!
By the way what is she studying?
Funn,
Not sure what she is studying at UBC. Perhaps some of our readers who are students at UBC can enlighten us.
cutting allowances might not be such a good idea. She might be inclined to trade sex for money to satisfy her partying ways. and yeah, maybe sell a sex tape for money.
At age 22 I doubt she still gets allowance from her parents so I don’t think that’ll work. Plus, she can just get a job if her parents really city her off.
I actually followed her on instagram before reading this post, she didn’t look like a “wild child” hhahah
I don’t see what the big deal is… I think things are always taken out of proportion.
potential rape victim
Yeah I’m thinking this too.
Sometimes girls just won’t figure it out till it’s too late because they always think it won’t happen to them and they can handle themselves, or feel comfortable around friends.
I hope they are able to talk sense in to her or make her wake up before it’s too late or she does something that she will regret the rest of her life.
It’s much easier to live with parents who are strict than it is to live with a life altering screw up.
Agree (if you are a parent, not a kid).
wht a stupid comment…
well, if she is careless and get drunk often.. there are a lot of bad guys out there, even sober girls get raped, drunk girl easier target
Maybe she likes or at least doesn’t mind being raped
Oh well so sorry to learn of that. Maybe with time things would get better. My child was well behaved.
No problem iin behavior while he was doing his bachelor & master. No wild ways. I brought him up as a parent. Child parent relationship.
Perhaps he was aware expectations from him to abide rules & regulations. The way he was brought up! Feet planted firmly on the ground. That sort of thing. Well most of my friends kids the same . No problems at all studying in college. The crowd one runs around with has a lot to do with it….?
This seems like a typical college girl, and she’s of legal drinking age so I don’t see the big problem. lol. Based on the bottom picture (since her face is covered in seaweed? in the top picture), she’s really pretty. I wonder if either of their kids will enter the entertainment industry?
I can’t believe any HK girl would enjoy drinking – its going to destroy her skin and metabolism and then blackhearted peers will be enjoy schadenfreude at the sight of her!
Oh well, seems like a normal growing up phase to me. Just worse if you have celeb parents. Really can’t do much except tell them to be more mindful of their health. Surely, they won’t listen at this age.
I would personally use old school style parenting here. The SSSS Damian Lau 25 slaps type of parenting.
25 slaps for the alcohol, then add another 25 for the bikini photos, throw in some kung fu panda kicks here and a couple more drunken tiger fists there.
End it off with, ‘Do you know how famous mummy and daddy are? Next time don’t let anyone catch you near those bottles and keep your clothes on, I didn’t name you Madonna.’
Yea. I’d have hateful kids who loves alcohol but at least, they’d be discreet.
Thanks for the laugh! 😀
Maybe we should recruit her into TVB. She has potential to be the new fadan
hi TVB 🙂
Thanks for your kind words, yea Tvb should recruit her, she looks pretty suitable actually but doubt mummy and daddy would encourage it since its a tough life being a celeb. In addition to the low pay and long hours at Tvb. 😀
LOL… good parenting tips 😉 But have to be careful, those hateful kids may report to the police if they’re treated that way and the famous parents may end up with bad publicity….
hi bizzybody 🙂
Lol I personally don’t parent my kids this way cos I’m a nobody and am not famous, but if I were, hohohohoho Lol.
You are right, hateful kids will call the police and calling the police is a surefire way to instantly kill their famous parents’ careers.
There’s only one solution left. Add another 25 slaps for trying to call the police and then knock these kids out with the telephone. Lol.
This reminds me of comedian Russell Peter’s ‘Beat your kids’ video on youtube. I always found it so funny.
Especially when his dad says ‘Russell! Somebody’s going to get a hurt real bad. Somebody. Somebody.’ Lol.
The thing is when you’re at a beach, naturally you will wear a bikini.
Some girls really go off the handle, but from the description I’m reading (I haven’t seen any pics), she sounds like a typical college girl who’s enjoying a few parties. If her parents are really concerned, cut her money down. Easiest thing and probably smartest thing to do, given they are probably pretty well off.
I don’t believe in being a friend and not a parent to your child. Being a friend to them will only bite you in the butt later on in life as they grow up.
Isn’t that just what Uni students do -___-;
I don’t quite like the idea of sending children to boarding schools overseas when they are young (under age 16). The family’s close-knit relationship will be very different if you bring up the children yourself. Teenagers can be quite rebellious and they need the love and guidance of their parents.
Sandcherry,
Michael’s son, Murphy, had attended high school at St. Michaels University School in Canada. So Murphy has been in Canada away from his parents since 14 years old. Not sure how old Phoebe was when she started studying in Canada, maybe around the same age or a bit older. Since both Phoebe and Murphy are in the UBC area, they can look out for each other although their parents are not there.
Michael and Jamie likely made this decision because they wanted their kids to see the world and have an “international education”. This will allow greater opportunities to find employment outside of HK if they wish in the future.
Sending the kids to Canada in their university years may make it more difficult for them to catch up on English.
There’s a trade-off in letting younger kids attend boarding school. Kids learn to be more independent at a younger age, but if they are not strong, they are subject to fend for themselves, and deal with peer pressure, or even get into risky situations.
Some parents send their 10-year-old kids to sleep-away summer camp for 6 weeks. They’re gone from parents’ sight for the program duration, with 2 to 3 weekends when parents can visit. These camps are not cheap either, running at $10,000 per summer, but the parents believe this teaches independence at a young age.
Ultimately, do parents wish to rein in the kids and have the family influence them more, but limit their experiences in life? Or do they wish to let their kids become more worldly, independent, but at the expense of being more detached from the parents?
Eventually the parents have to let go, but it is a matter of the kids’ maturity and when is the right time. Parents have to trust that they have raised their kids the right way and that they will be able to handle certain situations when they come up.
Good luck to those parents. Those kids may be independent, but most of the time they are too independent. They think they know everything and can handle things themselves, but they can’t. Some kids are more disciplined, but some are not. If you are a lucky parent, your kid will be successful. But I have heard too many sad stories.
It is good to learn to be independent, but parents’ love, care, and guidance as just as important to a teenager. Personally I think it is too young for the parents to let their 14-year old kid to study overseas all by himself/herself, even in boarding schools. The minimum age should be 16 years old.
Sandcherry,
It’s the opposite mentality of certain Chinese parents who do too much hand-holding of their kids. They loved their kids too much and treated them as children for too long, doing everything for them and letting them have their way.
Sometimes Chinese families emphasize too much on book smarts, but their kids have been over protected all their lives and do not even know how to take care of themselves, manage time, or even hold real responsibilities. I know of a few people who were coddled too much as children and having difficult adjustments in adulthood; in their twenties, they couldn’t find a job or keep it for a lengthy time. They lived off their parents’ meager salaries for years. They were never instilled the skills to manage themselves, be responsible, and survive in the work force.
It really depends on the kid’s personality and what parents think is best for them.
I could be very old-fashioned and conservative. Personally I think it is the responsibility of a parent to guide and educate his/her child at a young age, not a boarding school. When a child is mature and ready to go to university, it is time for them to learn to be independent, but not at age 14.
Jayne:
I agree with you on the above. I don’t think parents should be over-protective and spoil their kids. Eventually they will ruin their kid in future. I don’t buy this idea. However, a 14-year old kid is just too young to study overseas (over 10,000 km. away from Hong Kong) by himself/herself, unless the kid has a very close relative (such an uncle or aunt) who can take the responsibility as a parent or guardian.
Agree with SandCherry.. No.does not believe in sending kids away to boarding school abroad when the off spring is under 18.NO way!!! Not that one is controlling parent…Teenaged years are those very crucial years that needed parent guidance, over seeing , etc. The essential influence…Once foundation of positive habits have been laid & ingrained then let them fly off the coop r….! Go abroad study in university .. Independence given when right time. My girl friends believe same. Fortunately it worked out for all of us, Off springs all okay & still independence acquired!
I agree. Teenagers in the US, (I dont know about Canada) are not as responsible and smart about what they do as they were when I was in high school.
Lot’s more bullying, disrespect towards anyone who isn’t in their social group, drinking, etc etc. This is the time when they learn all their bad behavior and it carries into college.
I think they either trust their kids way to much or have no idea what goes on in westernized highschools. ( one only has to look in the daily news to see how badly kids treat each other these days.
I would never in a million years send my kid (if i had one) away to a highschool in a country that has less conservative beliefs or you risk letting them grow up to be rude, disrespectful, underachievers. Or on the flip side, unhappy, bullied, and incapable of acting responsibly.
“Teenagers in the US, (I dont know about Canada) are not as responsible and smart about what they do as they were when I was in high school.”
I think its the time we are in now. Teenagers can relate to one another no matter where they are, but definitely with our world evolving every second, its going to take a toll on the younger generations sooner or later.
@Sandcherry – I agree with you. Sending your child away from you when they’re practically still a child usually ends badly. But I think 18 may be a better age.
If one is lucky enough to have sensible, intelligent children who understand the need to send them away for their own good, fine. But most are still not matured in their thinking when they’re teens. They may feel resentful that their parents are shipping them away for their own convenience, hence the rebellion and wild ways as their way to get back at the parents. There are also those who were brought up strictly (parent-child role) who end up being wild after being off the leash for the first time.
Things may be worse if the family does not share a close relationship since young. The children end up treating their friends as family while parents are relegated to the role of banker.
Haiz… it’s quite difficult to define a right or wrong way to bring up a child. Ultimately, parents can only do their best according to their own thoughts and hope their child turn out well.
Totally agree with you in your post ……… It is very hard “to define a right or wrong way to bring up a child”. Every child is different in personality; some are strong-headed and self-disciplined, while some are very weak and don’t know what they want.
As a parent, I would not send my children to an overseas boarding school at the age of 14. First, their English skills are not that strong and they may have difficulty in communicating with people in a new country. Secondly, if they have any emotional or health problems, they do not have anyone that they can depend on. A 14-year old is still considered as a “child” to me.
Yeah – I would consider a person aged 18 as an adult (who hopefully is mentally matured to be considered one).
FYI, Singapore Govt offers ASEAN Scholarship to a few countries and there are 3 categories – Secondary One, Secondary Three and Pre-U One. If your child is selected as recipient for Secondary One scholarship program, would you let go of the opportunity offered to your child even though he/she agreed to go? A friend’s friend decided to let their 13 yo child join the program. Not for me to elaborate much, but it doesn’t end well. After hearing the story, I truly wonder if it’s me, would I let go of the opportunity or take the chance that everything will be well?
What’s the problem? Chinese growing up here in Canada aren’t as conservative as Chinese growing up in Hong Kong.
We’re more liberal and open minded.
She’s just having fun everyone needs to have fun she just at a beach what do people expect her to wear and can’t expect her to just be in front of book all day
To be honest, she is just a typical college girl in the West. In Canada, I believe the drinking age is 18 or 19 (depends where). If she is drinking legally, I don’t see what is the problem? Plus, OBVIOUSLY you wear revealing clothes in parties/clubs. It is hot and humid on those dance floors and reporters expect her to wear like what, thick jackets? I have friends who drinks, parties, but they still know their priorities. Although they are damaging their liver… Those reporters shouldn’t act all innocent like they never drinks or go to clubs before… I mean there are teenagers WAYYYY worse in Hong Kong. It’s college, give her a break.
wonder if she’ll be on campus next year…… guess i’ll be seeing her around then LOL
C’mon give us a more convincing pix dat shes wild indeed!
She’s a 22 year old student at UBC. Michael Miu has nothing to worry about. UBC is one of the hardest universities to get into in Canada. She’s able to maintain her grades and stay in school, that should be all that matters. Students party because they need to relax after exams. She’s obviously not going to dress like a nun to a party. The legal drinking age in BC is 19. From what I’ve seen, UBC students contain themselves very well.
I think I would be more concerned if she was going to school in HK. I hear of a lot of students getting involved in the drug scene.
To rein in Phoebe ‘s partying ways, the parents must have her pay her own education, room and board, and spending money if she continues. Just because she is studying at UBC does not mean her grades are decent. Parents will need to give incentives for her to turn herself around. Since she is an “adult”, she may rebel and not listen so if the parents want to give her tough love, then cut her off from any monetary support and let her work. Since she has to make money to support herself, then she will have less time to party unless she shacks up with a “rich” BF to support her “wild” ways.
I doubt that would happen to Michael Miu’s children. There are so many spoiled rich kids in Canada, especially those from Mainland China. They drive expensive cars, live in luxurious condos, wear expensive brand names clothes and shoes, and live extravagantly in Canada. Some of them are only in their late teens or early 20s.
Rich Chinese parents tend to spoil their children especially if they live overseas. They want to make sure that they can satisfy their children’s needs and desires.
Speaking of Mainland China kids, where the beep do their parents or whomever get their money? China got money trees? Its like they have money growing in their backyards or they’re the ones planting the money seeds.
I’m not even over exaggerating. Here in NYC, them white citizens are trying to drive the Chinese out of Chinatown to build their luxury buildings. They keep raising rent and etc, but the Chinese just keeps paying it off and the source of its money is from Mainland China. I kind of laugh at the white citizens though…they keep raising and raising the rent and what not and in the end the only one who gets hurt the most are their own brethren who are scouting the areas. Meanwhile, the Chinese just keeps paying and paying, sure they complain but guess what they pay without a problem.
@Crystal,
From what I know, many of the wealthy families in China do business and maybe other illegal means that we do not know about. I used to have a class full of students mostly from China and most if not all of them came from rich or at least upper middle class families. Even if they were not really rich, many assumed that they are because if not then how would they be able to come to another country to study??? Foreign students have to pay A LOT more than the students in that country.
The problem with a lot of them is that they think it is ok to mess around and not study since their family is rich and can keep on paying for them to repeat courses. Many of them were shocked and sad when they realized that the university policy only allowed them to repeat any course only 2 or 3 times at most and that was it… Basically, they learned and realized that money cannot buy and solve everything.
HTS,
I am very much familiar with how these second/third generations act when they are moved to Western countries.
The problem I have with these families, mostly the parents or who ever the caretakers, is they don’t seem to understand their wasting their time and their children’s time in pursuing this so called ‘education’ in the states or the other Western countries. Why do I say this? Because these kids come here at a young age to get this degree/piece of paper but they don’t plan to leave their kids here. They want them back after a certain age to help with the family business. So what was the point of five, ten maybe fifteen years of school?
My in-laws bore three sons, my husband and my two brother-in-laws. At a very young age all three came to the states to pursue this so called ‘education’. They went through elementary, middle, high school and even Columbia. In the end, where are they now? Back to the family business. Perhaps, that is why I can never get along with my in-laws, they make absolutely no sense to me. However that is a separate matter…..
But bottom line is, I will never understand what these people are thinking. It’s like they have this thought, an idea, innovative or not, they enact on it and then go ‘what now?’ Ugh, you’re all successful business builders and somehow you can’t calculate or even try to measure what is after?
As for the kids doing well or not doing well, it’s different life style. When you’re born into a family filled with riches, it means you’re born with the privilege of having anything that money can solve. And I am sure where ever they were born, rules aren’t as strict as long as money can solve them. But when you go into countries where rules are strictly in place, (not saying that no illegal things happen in the western countries) the children are lost and will have to learn to find their way of survival.
Crystal,
Perhaps your in-laws believed that an American education would benefit their future business management skills for the company. Or that living life away from the family would make them stronger and adaptive to new environments. They probably firmly believed that this was the best journey, to allow them to grow wise from such an experience, and use those skills to help run the family business. They likely believed that in youth, one can explore life, but ultimately there is still responsibility to return to their family roots and parents once their education is complete.
In general Chinese students who go to university in US are very rich. Many of them are actually working really hard to achieve their academic dream, although without financial burden like most of US students.
I remembered one time when I owned my university tuition like a few thousand dollars, a Chinese fiend just came and said “My dad gave me 30k to learn how to play stock, I can let you borrow some.” In some way he is spoiled, HOWEVER, his GPA was around 3.7 and graduated with honor with dual degrees in Management and Accounting.
Jayne,
I probably do understand my in-laws to some extent as in I know what they were trying to accomplish. But the problem is as a child going to a foreign place, finally adapting to its lifestyle and then going back to the native land and re-adapting that lifestyle is extemely stressful. I saw many who had to face this type of obstacles and some are pretty heart wretching.
I have three kids. Twins and a baby girl. My in-laws are trying real hard to push the younger twin, a boy, to come to the states for school. I am so against it (though it be great to see my little boy more often, maybe) since I know he will probably have to face the same struggles as his father and uncles.
Crystal,
It may take time, but we all eventually adapt and move on. Perhaps the early years of the move were stressful, but home is where loved ones are. New friends will be made.
Living in a foreign country or even different city makes our lives so much richer. It changes our perspective for the better. Hopefully the stress is just one short stage of it, but opens up a window of how life can be lived differently.
I guess in the end it is up to my child. When the time rolls around, I will consult with him first and he will decide his own path.
I think is normal for early 20s to party and drinking. I have done it before a couple years ago and has stopped. Just that her parent is a celebrities reporter will dig the dirt to make news.
in the top pic, she looks like esther kwan
I was thinking the same… Her parents are worrying too much but that is normal when your child is faraway from you,especially if they are daughters. My parents were the same to me so I know how Miu and Jamie feel.
Ohhh come on its the 21st century its what young adults and teens do nowadays almost everyone go through these stages whats the big deal lil fun wont hurt as long as they dont get themselves abusing drugs and etc…..I think the HK media is just over top on this
I wouldn’t call that behavior as wild, the media is just being too conservative about it. My parents also sent me to a boarding school at a very young age and it went up till I graduated from high school, now I;m in college and to be honest parties are inevitable at times. I don’t see a problem with that as long as you’re responsible, most of us may party hard but we do study hard. Having a drink or two is no big deal, as college students our main priority is out education. Sure money can buy you a spot in college but if you don’t study hard or can’t maintain your main priorities to your education even money can’t save you that spot, I’m sure this is a motto students keep in mind. She’s fine.
Austin,
Since you had attended boarding school at a young age, do you think it is a good idea for parents to let children grow up away from their influence?
It’s different for me since my parents had me at a very young age so therefore they decided it’s best for me to attend boarding school so they can figure out their other priorities as well. Boarding school can be a positive and a negative experience especially when you’re young. I constantly missed seeing my family but at the same time most of us who attended boarding school started to learn to become independent. Parents are also our motivation to study even harder just so when the annual parents visits come they feel proud and satisfied of us. From my experience boarding school made me grew up faster than those who didn’t attend it and overall it’s a good experience for me but I do know there are some people who had different views.
Austin,
Thanks for sharing your experience. It depends on each person’s adaptability and whether they can make the best out of it.
I honestly do not see anything wrong with her behaviour, as many of my friends/family post similar photos.
Must be a slow day for jaynestars….
Can’t believe this was even an article worthy..
Like Funn I too think it may be just a phase she’s going through. A bit of warning and caution from from her parents may just do the trick and she will start to curtail her wild ways.
She’s just enjoying life. I have friends that are friends with her when they attended Sha Tin College. I don’t see anything wrong with her enjoying parties.. it’s university, It’s expected. Just because your father is Michael Miu doesn’t mean you must be on your toes and refuse to be a youth.
Also, it seems as if she’s graduating this year and so what if Michael Miu is paying for her tuition and living expenses? I don’t think that should concern any one. If her dad’s making enough money to support her then why not? Every parent wishes to provide the best. I think a lot of posters here are still very conservative and old school. As long as you’re not like those mainland kids who splurge on everything without blinking and all on mummy and daddy’s tab, and skipping school, it’s fine.
he can always hire a bodyguard
It is Michael & Jaime’s daughter and they will have to deal with her one way or another. We, as readers, will find out from the tabloids if she straightens up or goes into the abyss.