My parents were very strict about behavior and obedience and tiger parent type in terms of academics. I did well but was miserable. As a result, I am the ultimate hippie parent who is fine with whatever as long me she’s kids are nice and treat others well. I bet my kids will have a reaction to this and grow up to be strict disciplinarians.

I also married a man who is pretty much the opposite of my father in every way and have a marriage very different from my parents. I love them but I do not want to live like them in any way.

I’m much more lenient than my parents were. I don’t necessarily think they were wrong - I turned out ok - but today’s parenting seems to care a lot more about how the kids are feeling than previous generations did and my parenting reflects the change in values.

Anonymous wrote:My parents were middle of the road. And I am middle of the road. (On the side of strict)

Example of my parents: gave us tons of free play, lots of tv but also expectations on School achievment were high.

Me: I keep the rules minimal, lots of free play and an average amount of tv (but no iPads in our house). But when I am serious about something, I really mean it. No excuses.

Same here. Also, I grew up in a very religious household (church on Wednesday, Friday AND Sunday).

I would not have called my parents strict, but they, especially my mother, ran a tight ship. If you need to ask what the difference is, I'd summarize it as that my parents were strict but fair. They were not unduly strict but there were clear boundaries and expectations and no tolerance if you dissented or didn't obey the rules. But you also quickly learned why the rules existed so you understood them. They were also very clear on what the consequences would be if you wanted to take a different decision and you also learned soon enough they were often right.

I try to be the same. So far so good (knock on wood).