Did you have "perfect" parents?

Did your father come home every night from his 9-5 job content and happy, ready to enjoy some quality family time and maybe a backyard game of catch with the kids?

Did your mother joyfully raise a batch of healthy children, tirelessly cleaning the house, fixing meals, and keeping the family peaceful and organized?

Your parents probably didn't fit those descriptions. Those stereotypes haven't described real families since the 50s--and I have a feeling that even then, they were recognizable as the silly cliches that they were. Real parents--your parents, my parents--look a lot different than that.

Maybe your parents did a pretty good job of raising you, doing their best to take care of you and preparing you for life on your own. Or maybe they didn't do so well--maybe they weren't always there for you, or they said and did everything wrong, or they just forgot to be, well, parents.

And maybe they did even worse. The news today is full of terrible stories about parents who not only fail to raise their children, but who go out of their way to make their kids' lives miserable. Maybe that was you, raised by parents who didn't know how to be parents and didn't care enough to learn.

Is it possible to forgive parents who failed you? Is it possible to rebuild relationships that were never really built in the first place? Is there any way to know a parent's unconditional love if your own mother and father didn't provide it?

We all crave the love that only a parent can give us--love that has no limits and requires nothing in return. But that kind of total love and acceptance is beyond what even the most "perfect" parent can provide. Does love like that even exist?

When it comes to needing a parent's love, we're all in the same boat. Read through some of these articles articles listed on this page, and see what others have to say and think about the quest for the "perfect parent."