He wasn't a good parent. Very very strict bible thumper. Although he did do this so they turned out okay:

Father, mother, Jason, Owen and I were, late in the evening, seated around the fire in the open fire-place of the kitchen, in the old Haymaker house where we then lived [Franklin, Ohio]; and there he first informed us of his determination to make war on slavery . . . by force and arms. He said that he had long entertained such a purpose:that he believed it his duty to devote his life, if need be, to this object, which he made us fully to understand. After spending considerable time in setting forth in most impressive language the hopeless condition of the slave, he asked who of us were willing to make common cause with him in doing all in our power to "break the jaws of the wicked and pluck the spoil out of his teeth," naming each of us in succession. Are you, Mary, John, Jason, and Owen? Receiving an affirmative answer from each, he kneeled in prayer, and all did the same. . . . After prayer he asked us to raise our right hands, and he then administered to us an oath, . . . [that] bound us to secrecy and devotion to the purpose of fighting slavery by force and arms to the extent of our ability. - John Brown Jr