With a dad like that, I'm sure the kids got an excellent demonstration of authoritarianism when they complained about it.

He probably said something like "in my house I'm king, and you have to do what I say" which leads the kids to grow up to 18 and leave the house as quickly as possible. In the years ahead this dad will complain that his kids never visit him and that they got "too woke" when they left the house still be completely oblivious that he himself was the architect of the estrangement.