I have always thought that a dangerous trend in child raising is the "I'm not going to be like my parents" attitude. Every generation of parents seem to be more and more lenient with their children because they don't want to be "old fuddy duddies" like their parents were (this is also kind of like parents trying to be their kids friends first and parents second). My mom's mom thought rock and roll was evil music. My mom though my music was just senseless noise. Now kids listen to music lyrics that would make an old timey carnival barker blush!

Our grandparents grew up when kids should only speak when spoken too, and mothers and fathers were to be respected and obeyed without dissent. Then when they became parents, they didn't want to be as strict with their kids so they relaxed the rules. We all remember the things that our parents did that we hated or didn't understand. These are the things we don't want to enforce on our kids.

When I was a kid the Parents were still the pinnacle of the family. Then some time in the eighties or seventies there was a giant shift. Families started making decisions based on what was best for the kids. Not what was best for the adults. My wife grew up in such a family and when we compare childhoods it's as if we grew up in two different countries.

The danger in this, I believe, is if we get too lax in our parenting, kids will never learn respect for their elders and for rules. Granted, some of the things our parent's and grandparents weren't allowed to do was because of ignorance and fear of certain things. We know a lot more now about what is safe and healthy for our children than we did then. That doesn't mean we can't still teach our children how to be respectful.