I think a lot of these people - a depressing number of parents in general, really - liked their kids when they were cute little babies and toddlers who didnāt have their own opinions or demand privacy or whose boundaries and personal autonomy could be more easily over-ridden because you can pick them up and tote them around.
When you have a baby, youāre very much the center of that babyās world. Theyāre completely dependent on you.
But once the kids get older and start being more opinionated and having more complicated feelings, and donāt just idolize their parents, and maybe start to realize their parents are flawed human beings just like every other human whoās ever existed, and you canāt just stuff them in a foofy dress or whatever to make them Be Cute on command, thereās a certain kind of parent who feels very offended and threatened by that.
Itās like when your kitten or puppy grows up to be an adult cat or dog, and theyāre notĀ ācuteā anymore.
And thatās when a lot of shit about āearning your keepā starts, and a lot of the guilt-tripping, too, I think, when kids donāt just fall down at these parentsā feet in gratitude and obeisance.