The older I get, the more I understand my parents & try to see things from their perspectives. My father, especially, was hyper-critical & emotionally abusive. Having learned about his childhood (he's the adult child of an alcoholic) he's talked sparingly about some of the humiliating situations he suffered as a child - & folks often parent in much the same manner in which they were raised. He's also expressed how miserable he was working at his job & how weekly swing shifts affected him (he's retired now). Now that both he & I are older, I think I realize parents are human, too. I once resented my father greatly, but I've grown to understand him better as life has kicked me in the butt more than a few times. Let's face it...There are some forms of abuse that can never be forgiven or forgotten; but parents, like all of us, have feet of clay, too.