Bet it was the mother who said that. Women think with their heart - men think with their head, that's why men are supposed to be the head of the household. That may sound old fashioned but that's the way it was meant to work.
A phenomenon that I've seen a lot, too, is that dad is willing to get tough with his kids but he won't go toe-to-toe with his wife when she reneges on her end of the agreement. He heads off to the garage grumbling, a broken man, has to eat the costs of whatever preparations were made to get their 20-something out of the house, and the dysfunctional cycle in the home continues. Little Johnny gets a good laugh knowing that he can crack mommy whenever dad tries to get tough with him. It's pathetic and sad.