To OP, no, children are not chattels, but we as parents are there to help and guide them through life. That’s the ideal. Where I live, quite nice area, the amount of indulged children I see is mind boggling. Ferried 60 yards to school, they could walk, parents constantly glued to their phones, once there, they gather in little groups, in the latest sportswear, talking to friends but eyes never far from that screen. You go in supermarkets and a child is running round, usually shouting, mother or father on the phone, maybe just indifferent, I’ve seen the children helping them selves to the odd thing, if they are caught, a shrug and we’ll pay at checkout. There is no guidance or discipline, no engagement with that child, no sense of responsibility to other people. Children learn by example, from what I see from a lot of parents is neither, children almost like an accessory to their lifestyle. Smacking a child is pointless. Giving them a tap like Diana, keeping them in line, to children that are very much lived and cared for won’t hurt them. The other type of parent won’t mind too much either way. There should be more emphasis in all schools on parenting, it’s as if it doesn’t matter. I learnt from good parents, what do you do when you haven’t had that?