I have always like psychologist's John Rosemond's style of parenting. Basically it is old fashioned advice which is how many of us were raised and I am not talking about physical punishment which he does not recommend. So he would say that those little humans don't have property because it is residing in the parents home that they pay for. Basically the family is not a democracy. The parents are in charge and their relationship with each other is the primary focus. The belief is that if the parents are strong, happy and united then the kids will be happy and feel secure. Therefore, with small kids there is no need to explain, reason etc. Because I said so is good enough. BTW we are talking little kids here. So you would not have little kids making choices about what to wear, etc. That is a privilege that comes with age. No helicoptering parenting either. So kids get to make age appropriate decisions. Before that time the parents decide. For instance i never asked my kids when they were younger then 5 what they wanted to wear, etc. Giving choices too early leads to negotiating with a 2 ft tall terrorist. I have to say that I could take my kids anywhere and they behaved. Many parents now have out of control kids. It is really sad because both the kids and their parents don't get invited to people's homes, etc because no one wants to put up with that.