Stupid,Stupid People!

My dad died when I was only 7 and I was raised by a single-parent mom until she got married again 5 years later. She had to work - in a time when most moms were "stay-at-home" - so I was the prototypical "latch-key kid". There was no questioning a parents authority back then. You had your chores to do when you got home from school and then you could go out to play with your friends in the neighborhood until it was time to get home and start homework.
And not only did you get discipline at home from your parents, but your neighbors also kept an eye on what was going on and didn't have any qualms about reporting any mischief to your parents.
My grandparents lived next door and there were a number of times my grandma told me to "go cut a switch" if she thought I was misbehaving.
Yeah, I remember getting spanked when I'd done something wrong. I also remember my moms favorite instrument of discipline was a wooden clothes hanger - until she got tired of breaking them and changed to a wire hangar. Today that would be considered "child abuse", but back then you'd get another whack if you ever mentioned anything like that. I don't know how many times I heard, "I'll give you something to cry about" if there was any whimpering about something.
But, yeah, it was all done out of love.
My ex-wife and I split up when my daughter was 7 and my son was 2 and I kept full custody of both kids and raised them as a single father until I remarried 8 years later. Luckily, my mom and stepfather lived just a few blocks away so my kids were watched by family until I picked them up after work each day.
They were both raised with consistency. They knew that dad meant what he said and wasn't afraid to discipline if it was called for. The rules were easy to follow by the numbers:
1, you were asked. If that didn't work, then
2, you were told. And if that didn't work, then
3, you felt it
In most cases all that was needed was for them to hear, "That's 2".
I believe too many parents today want to be their kids friends, and the responsibility of parenthood goes way beyond that when the kids are young. As a single parent I used to hear, "It's not fair", and "Let's vote on it", knowing there were two of them and only one of me. I simply explained, "I'm the 'dad' here and this is not a democracy. At best it's a benevolent dictatorship."
Today my kids are both in their 30s and we are friends - and they constantly tell me they're thankful for the way they were raised knowing they could count on me to be both fair and consistent, and knowing they could always count on dad to be there for them.