[EdSharkey]

I was raised catholic, so I hear you on instilled neuroses.

I think your parents' success lies in their making the screen a finite/precious resource for you. Whatever their motives, and however inartful they were, it still had the outcome of making you choosy and resourceful. Sure you might be a bit type-a on some things today as a result, but at least you have an idea why that is.

I dunno ... Given how bad most people appear to be at parenting, I'd say on the whole you scored.

Did you wind up with a good paying job? Would you say you are faring better than a majority of your peers? I'd say if you can get out of your 20's debt free, you'll be a model person.

[nemo1618]

Perhaps. I won't argue that my parents, on the whole, raised me very well. I wasn't aware of this at all until I had some distance from them, and heard about/experienced other people's parents, who tended to fall into either "helicopter" or "absent."

I left college to start a company (a decision that, I note, my parents were incredibly supportive of), and I have no debt. I wouldn't consider myself a model person; I don't take very good care of my body, I have poor work/life separation, and I am currently wallowing in mild depression. I think too much and do too little. But on the whole, I have a solid base to build upon, and I can thank my parents for that.

Thanks for the perspective. I had internalized a lot of these issues and never tried to lay them all out, so this was therapeutic.

[EdSharkey]

Ok, good. Take care buddy! That's impressive you have a business and no debt, seriously. Hang your hat on that one.

Anyhow, I got on eHarmony and after 6 months of searching, I found my wife and cleared my mild depression right up. ;) Gave me an excuse to look after the appearance, health, etc. Check it out, their matching algorithm is really good and it's not a meat market like the other dating sites.