https://nypost.com/2026/02/26/opinion/ge...res-proof/

"..They then examined how different household rules and structures correlated with reported relationship quality between parents and children.

The results cut directly against the “gentle” narrative.

The teenagers surveyed reported stronger parent-child relationships in homes that enforce curfews and clear rules.

Those teens had grown up in homes with consistent bedtimes, screen limits, device drop-off times, and structured homework blocks.

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In other words, the presence of boundaries and structure correlates with higher relationship quality, not lower.

As in everything in life, though, there’s a tradeoff: Parents in homes with more rules are more likely to report that parenting feels more difficult for them....

Adolescents, in particular, are living in neurological construction zones.

A teen’s prefrontal cortex — responsible for impulse control, planning and long-term thinking — is still under development.

When parents abdicate authority in the name of preserving harmony, they’re not fostering independence in their kids; they’re outsourcing executive function to someone who does not yet possess it.

Children don’t experience well-calibrated limits as rejection, but as predictability — and the human nervous system craves predictability, because it lowers anxiety.

Fewer variables mean fewer battles to wage.

And when anxiety decreases, attachment strengthens.

What the data make clear is that the outcome — the quality of the parent-child relationship — improves under calmer, predictable, structured conditions.

The difficulty of daily enforcement is front-loaded; the benefits accrue over time in the form of trust, stability and mutual respect...."


ie, liberal parents are lazy, and maybe don't have any better judgement than their 5 year olds!