Love and affection are important in the home, of course, and parents and children should always be able to kiss and hug each other, but that is not what the fifth commandment is talking about. Rather, the fifth commandment tells us there is to be a definite structure of authority and obedience in the home. Authority and obedience are not very popular concepts today. Our culture views it almost as a moral obligation to question and disobey authority. Whether it is government, police, teacher, pastor, church, or parents, people today tend to resent authority.
People today tend to think that the only opinion that really matters is their own.
In some other times and cultures, people were too quick to knuckle under to authority, even when authority was dreadfully wrong, but that is hardly our problem today. In our public school system the teachers are afraid of the principal, the principal is afraid of the school board, the school board is afraid of the parents, the parents are afraid of the kids, and the kids aren't afraid of anybody. This is an exaggeration, but our regard for authority is at an all-time low. It is alarming that regard for authority is at an all-time low. But even more alarming is that many people think that's the way it should be.