Because my home life was nuts, I didn't look to my parents for help. I looked to my teachers. They made me who I am. They took on a parental role. They're like celebrities or heroes to me.
Juggling work and parental responsibilities is no easy task, but I'm trying my best and just like everything else there are good days and there are bad days.
In our family, the men have always stood at the head, true patriarchs that take the lead, teach, and live their lives as examples... Women have a significant role as helpers to our husbands and co-counsels in the parental equation.
I really feel that most things are difficult at the beginning and they become fun, something you love, only after you've worked at them. Making children do something hard can, in the long run, be a great parental service.
Some people don't need parental commitment, they will still come out great, but for others, parents can be critical in providing moral and academic guidance.
It is only when parental feelings are ineffective or too ambivalent or when the mother's emotions are temporarily engaged elsewhere that children feel lost.
My theory is that one needs to be loved completely, unconditionally, and unfettered by parental disapproval, if one is to get happily through life which, after all, presents its own hurdles.
People who end up in our prisons tend to come from the most difficult backgrounds. They did not have the parental support as they grew up, as many of us enjoyed, and they struggle when they leave prison.