ABSTRACT
One day, sitting in the hot-tub at my health club, I witnessed a particular
dynamic. A man in his forties was sitting next to a woman in her thirties. They
did not know each other, but he began to chat with her. There were a few
typical topics like the weather, how crowded the lap pool was, and the
upcoming holidays. But, fairly quickly, he brought up some article in the
morning paper that had mentioned parenting as part of the story. Then, he
proceeded to tell this woman, who just listened patiently, about how he
thought ``Today's parents are way too permissive. They just let the kids get
away with everything. The kids today are too spoiled. They need to be shown
some discipline.''
