I’m not old enough to really know, but I suspect most Americans used to raise their children pretty well. But then Dr Spock came along with a lot of “helpful advice” which started us down a bad path. Today we’ve gone far beyond Dr Spock and we live in an era where childrearing often means “anything goes”. Very few people actually “parent” today — most likely, they expect the government schools to raise their children for them.
Spock was a disaster.
The woman from Russia does a good job of pointing out the things that have turned many American kids into whining, useless and entitled snowflakes who can’t even hold a job...
Dr. Spock’s book of “advice” was first in bookstores when I was a child-living on a ranch in a remote area, my mom just read excerpts from it in a few women’s magazines-and she and my aunt who lived on the property up the road made fun of the insanity of the advice.
Later, when I was pregnant with my own cub, one of my well-meaning aunts living in the city gave me a copy of the infamous Dr. Spock baby and childcare book when she visited us in BFE-when my mom saw it on a table in my cabin, she said it was all just ridiculous s*** took it outside and threw it in the burn barrel. Needless to say, I raised my cub the old fashioned way-with the use of the word “no”, and even the occasional smack when needed...
You may be surprised how many who called themselves "Christian," and even many conservatives on this site (just a few of which I have contended with), who oppose any corporeal punishment of children - despite it, as wisely judiciously applied, and as based upon principal, not peevish passion, is clearly Scriptural, though more necessary for some (if all all) than others.
And indeed, in the natural world, it is the reality of physical force that is ultimately behind even the demand "go to your room." For what if the child refuses to mind, and parents never use physical force? If one will not be correctly controlled from within, then they must be controlled from without. Resulting in the state getting involved. And whose power to coerce obedience ultimately rests upon the use of the sword of men, with the just use of it being sanctioned by the word of God. (Rm. 13:1-7)