The centre of ones universe shifts when you have children. When you’re single, you are the centre of your universe and you have your ideals all based upon whether things are a threat to you or not. But when you’re a parent, you’re no longer the centre of your universe. Your wife and kids are. And your kids are young and dumb and impressionable, and you have to look out for them and protect them.

And it’s a fierce instinct. Alone, you might be scared of a big stray threatening dog and try to calm it or run away or do something non-violent in line with your anti-animal cruelty ideals.

But when you have a kid and it’s threatening your kid,

you’ll take no hesitation in beating them all up as best you can, to death if need be.

The same goes for movies and all other media that threatens to impose certain values. Alone, you’re grown up and smart enough to not fall for these things and hence are not threatened by it. But with kids, you have to look out for them.

When I had my daughter and she was a newborn and all the family aunties and uncles wanted to carry and kiss her totally oblivious of how germs threaten newborns, I got extremely pissed off. I shouted at them all. My cousin who still young and single at the time got offended at how I shouted at my elders. Alone, the ideal is to generally respect elders. But with a kid, the interpretation is different, you have to look out for them even against people you would normally respect.

When you’re young and alone and free and know nothing of this parent life, simply observe one general rule. Do not get between a parent and their child. It’s their child. They suffered to bear the child into this world. They are staying up at night looking after the child, they are sacrificing a good life and paying from their money for every major thing in the child’s life including food, clothes, school fees, entertainment and outings. If you do anything that undermines or threatens their authority and respect and teachings and control over their child, you’ll get anywhere from a hysterical shouting to a black eye no matter who you are and what your ideals are like and however civilized you may think you are.