The firmer parent is who your child will favor

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That is my theory because currently I am the stricter parent in the family and I rarely let my kids act badly and get away with it and will send them to their room or hold of on outside activities if were home. My thinking is that if you let it slide now how are you gonna tell whats right and wrong when their old enough to question your authority. My boyfriend, their father, is much more lenient and often shrugs their behavior off as 'it wasnt that bad' but I told him that when they get even five years older (their 2 and 3) their going to manipulate the heck out of him if he does not put his foot down and another thing I point out is that they often favor me and while there is many factors being played I do think this is half of the reason, because children respect authority (fair parental authority). From what my boyfriend has said here and there it sounds to me that he is afraid of becoming the bad guy by punishing them and I guess this comes from his mother because she often acts like this when I've been over there and reprimanded the children. My mother and me man have we had our difference, MAN HAVE WE, but that is one reason I talk to her now is because I respect how she put her foot down with us 5 kids, nearly by herself while my dad mostly remained passive unless we did something really bad. What is your opinions on the matter? Have you changed your parenting styles from stricter to more loose or vice versa? For some other ways work, what works for you?