I was just reading about Donald Trump's children, and I wanted to make a little note about how parenting styles have changed in America. Even Donald Trump, noted in other contexts as a vicious bully, seems to have been a kind and indulgent parent who never hit his kids. Rather than criticizing their report cards, he wrote encouraging notes on them. It seems to me that fifty years ago a man like Trump would have thought that only sternness and frequent spankings could prepare kids for the savage competition that he believes adult life to be. But in our age, even some of the bullies believe in parenting by tenderness.
Even figures like Stalin and Mussolini were reportedly tender and gentle with their families. Humanity is strange like that - a person can go from signing mass execution orders one minute, to happily doting upon a young child the next.
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