It does matter if you can express your own thoughts about it to someone. She asked what we thought. Well this is what I think.
My son was once very sad because his dad was so nossy and hit him for nothing and he said: he doesn't love me. Dad is Indonesian and had an Indonesian upbringing which was real extreme child abuse. So he doesn't all of a sudden raise his kids the Dutch way: listen to what they have to say, not authorative. He didn't spank them, but he hit hard. They couldn't even talk during dinner time. Quiet. Fill your mouth.
So I said to my son who wanted to always be with me: Look, your dad is old, he's Indonesian, the way he was raised this is peanuts and he just thinks this is normal and he won't listen to me, so please just do what he says, so he doesn't hit you anymore. And he really loves you, although he has a weird way of showing it. No he hates me. No, I lied to him, he told me yesterday that he loves you very much. Well, problem solved. He was perfectly obedient, dad didn't hit anymore and he even wanted to stay a day more with him alone. You just need to understand where people are coming from. To the mother and posters here it's normal. To Fran and the friends she had and people from school who have a much looser upbringing it's too hard.
It doesn't mean they don't love you. They just don't know better.