SHOTGUN'S OPINIONS ON REARING THE CHILDREN I DON'T HAVE:
IMHO, the most important aspect of child rearing is, umm (video still fresh in mind) "sticking to your guns". If you say there will be a consequence for an unwanted action, do not hesitate to implement that consequence. If you say there will be punishment for bad behavior but fail to discipline them, then they will continue to push the envelope and will eventually stop listening to you all together. It's simple: reward for good behavior, punish for bad behavior and then correct it.
All too often parents come across as trying to be a "friend" to their kids, maybe because they think if they are cool in the eyes of the younger generation then they will stop aging 
. Your kids will have plenty of friends, what they need a provider, teacher and guide.
If you debate with your kids over an issue, don't take the lazy way out and say "because I said so" and don't let them throw any whiny bullcrap. If the issue is debatable, stay intelligent about it and your kids will want to imitate your intelligence.
While I think any physical harm/abuse directed towards your kids is wrong and detrimental to their wellbeing, I think a firm pop to the backside could serve as a good wake-up call to let them know that they need to stop what they're doing, especially if they should already know the act is improper. (I think of Gibbs on NCIS smacking his team on the back of the head). Letting your kids do whatever they want without proper guidance or discipline is a terrible injustice.
That's the big one for me. I hate it when my parents say "I don't have to explain my decisions to you". Or "I'll punish you if you even say anything to the contrary" after their very first (and verifiably wrong) sentence. I've never, ever shut them out. It just leads to feelings of frustration.Oh what the heck, I'll rant.
If parents want to make a controversial decision that goes against their child's wishes and previous actions, the least they can do is explain their point and allow their child adequate time to support his/her point. For instance, my little brother and his friends often ask me to play NERF with them, and it's fun, I won't deny. Recently, I've modified three NERF guns (which, by the way, was approved beforehand) in order to make them shoot further and with less deviation at long range. However, this modification was incomplete when my parents picked up the guns and tried them out. The sound of the plastic internal parts slamming together made a loud "BANG!", and the darts were significantly faster than before. Furthermore, the darts just so happened to have rubber tips, which made them bounce off the wall. This made them look like death lasers.
My parents didn't seem to understand the availibility of protective eyewear, the highly limited terminal ballistic potential of NERF darts, and extremely low accuracy to anywhere other than center-of-mass. We have goggles and helmets of all sorts around the house, all of which are light, easy-to-wear, and easily stop NERF darts. NERF darts, even when travelling at high velocities, are the victims of low mass- they only weigh a few grams each. This severely limits any potential for damage, even to unprotected areas. Finally, almost every NERF dart fired in action misses, and those that hit are usually to the center-of-mass or feet. Both of these areas are protected by loose clothing or extremely tough to begin with. The idea of the darts hurting was absurd, we had a hard time of feeling them at all.
However, my parents stood by their ill-informed decision, made degrading jokes about my position and character while I respectfully presented my points, and then threatened to destroy every NERF blaster in the house, modified or not, if I said so much as a sentence in protests. Mind you, this was no drawn-out or even moderately fair debate. I had just gotten up, and they sprung it on me together and by surprise after having talked about it the night before. I was upset, and to this day I do not understand the basis of their decision.
-Penguin
