My mother was/is a very loving mother. That said, she was overprotective. Don't do this--you might get hurt. Don't do that--you might get hurt. It wasn't her intention, but I learned to be helpless.

My father (deceased) was a stoic WWII veteran and police officer. He never once told me that he loved me; never once gave me a hug. He would ask me the same question every day: How do you justify your existence? It made me wish I was never born.