Ben, you write wonderful comments here on the main blog, but I don't see you on the R2D Discord. Do you post under a different name there, or have you not joined the Discord yet?
Naturally, authoritarian parenting guides like what Dobson and Pearl does do not give this type of advice - all they do is stuff that would enable child murderers and torturers and leave well-intentioned but clueless parents like these despairing.
I kind of feel the episode the Supernanny channel posted today is also apt where Golden Corral lore is concerned. The parents in that episode seem like the exact type of people who might let their kids run amok at Golden Corral.