Thank you for this excellent post. I am following you already. I read through all the comments and your comment  "Be the parent you wish you'd had" made me realize how lucky I was because I could not have asked for better parents. Although I had a few spankings in my life but we thought nothing of it, it was just the way it was and I can count it on one hand.  I myself as a parent did not read a lot of books on parenting, but I think I was just blessed by God with lots of common sense and tact and the Holy Spirit leading me. I engaged with my kids on all subject since they were very little. And they also had a spanking or two but really not much. I tried to prepare them for everything in life by discussing life with them. My daughter is now 32 and my son 30. We still have that good communication going, no subject is taboo, everthing goes as it was when they were growing up. We had our problems in the teenage years but nothing major. I only now read about this parenting styles and the un-schooling etc. Steemit has been very educational to me. I am looking forward to read more of your posts.