Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Ok. How many of you believe that your family environment presently or growing up was "ideal". What do you think is "ideal"? I'll admit, a lot of the families who come through the adoption agency I work for annoy me with the "designer family" they try to portray on paper. I've seen dysfunction in every family and I think the key to success as a family is acknowledging it. Anyway...I'm curious - what's ideal? Is love enough? How about financial situation? Blah.

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Making Prudish Americans Uncomfortable - one photo at a time.

all I know is that there is no "perfect family" and the ones claiming to be are the worst in most cases. i think parents love and time can never be substituted by money etc.

I grew up in a disfunctional family so that makes it normal.

I was truly blessed to be raised in a middle income family with two married parents.

However, IMHO I think a loving individual OR a loving couple can raise a well rounded child. Ideally a parent who doesn't work long hours and can participate in the child's life experiences. I have seen some of the best individuals come from poor families where cable TV was too expensive, they grew and canned a lot of their food, and hand-me-downs were the norm. They seem to have a grip on how money works. I have also seen persons who make a lot of money and thus work very long hours, the children (may) see them leave in the morning, come home and "retire" to the office to work some more. These children don't get the benefit of a parent active in their life. These are of course, are two opposites the point being, finances may not necessarily play a huge role in child rearing.

My family was, I think, as close to ideal as possible.
Lots of tragedy under the surface, and at times there was a lot of tension, but my parents always made it clear that no matter what came in our lives, they were committed to each other and to me. They ensured that no matter what I had a stable home to come home to.
Financially, they both came from destitute backgrounds, worked their ways up, are both college educated, my dad is an MBA - and they taught me the value of money by limiting 'extras' and focusing on necessities (anything I wanted, I earned money for and bought myself)
Um, what else - I guess the point is no family is perfect but it's what you make of what you've got that matters, and my parents put their everything into make sure that I had everything.

There is no such thing as ideal, and the "perfect parent" simply does not exist. I'm a parent, and I'm not perfect. My parents weren't perfect, and I'm thankful for that fact, because it's made me a much stronger person.

The goal of a parent should be to raise a young adult who makes good decisions, is responsible, knows how to learn from their mistakes, and can take care of themselves and manage their future. That's it, really. The details of how they get to that point are inconsequential, as is the family composition, living situation, and financial situation.

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