Am I the only one who gets her hackles up when people start ranting about "respecting your elders"?  I was a well-behaved kid who rarely talked back, but it has always seemed to me that the people who are biggest into "respecting your elders" are also biggest into making arbitrary decisions and running their kids' lives.  The son here doesn't sound like a winner, but I have to wonder if the LW is just upstanding or is a knuckle-buster because he thinks he owns his children.