We were mean parents too, the kids swore that when they got married and had kids that they would not make their kids work like slaves, go to school all the time when they were sick (bad hair days?) and eat stuff that was horrible (once one of them refused to eat eggs because they came from a chicken's butt) so she had her french toast on the table when she came to breakfast..got even madder when she discovered what made them so good..
Then both of them called me when they were adults, said that when they opened their mouths to talk to THEIR kids, they were horrified to hear MY voice come out!! They and their kids turned out good...oh, the oldest ones DID go to jail. After becoming a Physican's Assistant, she went into the family job, she is a guard in a Texas jail!! Youngest son was a cop till injured, oldest son is a guard/corrections officer in a southern CA prison. Youngest daughter is a school teacher. They see all the time what is the result of not correcting children early. And now we're friends. I was not their special friend when they were young, I was the Mother and Daddy was the father and we had to be strong for them so THEY would grow up the same.