I am very young only 26 so my experience isn't very played out yet but I have to agree with almost everyone that has posted.

I came from a bad backround and therefore I moved out on my own when I was 15. I never thought I'd have children because of medical problems in the past and when god finally gave me the oppertunity I sat down and cried with tears of joy and fear. But a friend calmed my worries by saying,

"If you or I or anyone were perfect, there'd be nothing to love"

psychology points to the views that we do somehow parent the way we were parented, but I have to disagree. Humans by nature learn mostly from trial and error. Your backround could be the strongest motivator or your weakest point, only you can make that decision. There is no such thing as a good parent or a bad parent. We can only do the best we can and know in our hearts and souls we did it with love; if you do that you are your own successor!!!!
I have many friends who come from perfect families and have severe drugs, drinking or abuse problems. All of them from rich (not that that has anything to do with it) happy homes, mom was homecomming queen now a school teacher and dad is a counsler at the job corp; families like that and they turned out horrible. And not to brag but I come from a horrible backround and now I have been to college for 4 years after dropping out of high school, I have a 4.0 and make more money than my husband (proud of too) and allthough I make a million mistakes every day I am proud of who I am and thankful that someone loved me. I can tell you love your kids and that is the best thing for them, let them learn from their mistakes and always have faith and an open heart, they are still young and there are many days ahead for learning