National Youth Rights Association

Pretty good. Conversation went somewhat similar at my house. Still does, except now it's usually, "how was work today."

I agree with Edwin. Children learn not to share their lives with their parents, because most of the time the only feedback they will receive is negative. Successes are expected, and therefore earn the child no respect that they can recognise, while failures are over-reacted to, blamed on the child, and examined at length, making the child feel inferior.

– Christopher Zamonska-Blake, age 16.

Good friends don't give advice until asked for it, and they don't punish each other when expectations are not met. But despite all the rhetoric, parents can't be 'good friends.' Our culture won't allow it. The parent that's a true friend will be prosecuted for neglect.

Our culture is set up so being a 'good' parent is impossible. There are just too many contradictory expectations on them. There is no 'right' way for a parent to handle that situation. When you create a culture where one group is systematically denied equality through some arbitrary criteria (like an entry on a birth certificate) it isn't just the targeted group that suffers. The whole community get caught up in living that lie. Everyone's life is diminished.