Locke on parenting

I believe Locke's views of parenting are not taken as relevant for today. Locke, in chapter 6, outlines the duties of a father and the freedom of children. He writes as if all children will obey their parents just because that is what is accepted as the right thing to do, and that is how it was during Locke's time, but not now. In paragraph 61 Locke explains that a child is "free" because of his fathers understanding and ability to reason and the child is obedient to the father. ("The freedom of a man at years of discretion, and the subjection of a child to his parents...") Early in the chapter Locke refers to the age of maturity being 21 as well. The problem I have with all of this, Locke's theory of obedience, is that today no child I know between the ages of 13 and 21 are compelled to act within the laws of nature because their parents do. I have worked with children for the past five years and some of them are just downright nasty. Most kids today do not respect paternal power, I have seen kids literally spit in the face of it in fact. It seems to me that today's kids are more conniving and use their ability to reason at a young age to take advantage of whatever bit of power they can. and This lack of respect for elders is not just kids fault either, there are a lot of bad parents out there too. Locke, in paragraph 67, actually says it is not in human nature to abuse their paternal power and I would strongly beg to differ.
Locke has a very idealistic way of looking at parenting and the role of a child. He assumes God's Spite is enough to make good parents, and he assumes kids will just obey for the sake of obeying. Society today has changed so much, children are more spoiled than ever before, respect for elders is disappearing, and paternal power is no longer a good argument for human nature being the only aspect that creates good children.