“I thought my parents were very strict, but seeing the current generation, I realize they saved me.” (Jason Statham)
I wholeheartedly agree. However, the central issue in childhood isn’t strictness. The essential issue is instilling thought and reason. If you teach your child critical thinking (primarily by doing it yourself), then strictness will not be as necessary. Rational thought leads to self-discipline as a matter of self-preservation.
What I see throughout society today is a lack of independent, rational, objective thinking. The present generation was taught EXCLUSIVELY to feel. Thought and reason are routinely denounced as toxic masculinity, racist and outdated. The result? A generation of people who are so lost, helpless and clueless–with only their feelings to guide them–that they yearn to obey. Hence the appeal of command-and-control economics, and mindless “woke” conformity. Abandon reason, and you’re left with two things: feelings, followed by blind submission to authority.