I think a lot of it too has to do with the strict rules that were imposed by future generations. It's not that they were anything specific either, but it seems that somewhere along the line certain generations felt the rules were too harsh or "unfair". In response they have created these lax guidelines that basically gives children a blank check to act however they want and do whatever they want. This grumpy old man and "boomer" stereotype has become a bit of a joke lately, but I have a feeling eventually people are going to realize they should have listened.
Everyone wants "better" for their kid, as if what they had was worse. That is not a very reflective metric to say that anything in the past is worse than what we have now - especially when the results of what we have are not great.
I think part of it is me just trying to make sense of something that doesn't make sense. It's like trying to find something that might not even be there just to settle your mind.