Joshua Coleman

My brother and I were occasionally smacked by our parents when we were children. Our feelings weren't weighed on important decisions: where we'd go to school, how often we visited our grandparents, and what sort of clothing we'd wear. No alternative menu was provided if we didn't like the food set out for dinner. We never had any 'right' to express ourselves, so it never occurred to us to question it. However, as millions of women and men of my age - I'm now in my mid-40s - reach adulthood, we've signed up for therapy. We looked at our childhoods and learned to see our parents as'stunted' emotionally.' We vowed that our child's raising would be different. We will continue to cherish our children's friendships and tear down the barrier of authority that previous generations had created between parent and child.