I tend to blame Dr. Spock, who even admitted his method of child rearing was a mistake, has led to many children not being able to cope with life and disciplinary punishment. Spare the rod does indeed spoil the child. JM2C
The other thing I would ask anyone to consider on this subject is to have an open mind.
There are any number of things that we think are good and healthy, only to discover later (as knowledge and science advance) that are very bad.
Take smoking, for example. In my grandmother's time, doctors would tell a pregnant woman that is actually beneficial to smoke. It's completely true.
This is because smoking keeps a person's weight down, and if a pregnant woman didn't gain excess weight...she was less likely to develop gestational diabetes.
So, smoking helps prevent diabetes in a pregnant woman.
It goes the other way, too.
Ignaz Semmelweis discovered (before the germ theory of disease) that washing the hands and instruments in a bleach/water solution before helping a new mother give birth will cut sepsis of childbirth down by more than 95%.
Yet doctors refused to adopt his techniques, as they found it insulting that their hands could transmit disease.
Also, there was a Biblical verse from Genesis about Eve having her pains multiplied in childbirth as punishment for tempting Adam, so the Biblical literalists found handwashing before obstetrical work to be morally wrong.
There is much more to these points that I have left out because it is beyond the scope of a forum post, but you get the idea.