Well, some people would argue that emotional abuse is just as bad as physical abuse, but I don't really think that.
In truth, my parents aren't horrible people... wait, it take that back. Both of my biological parents are horrible, HORRIBLE people. Mostly it is due to ignorance, not maliciousness.
For instance, my father was a cop that could bench-press 500 lbs. (in his day) and was afraid to spank me because he could really do some damage. However, he thought nothing about telling me stories of failed suicide attempts, auto accidents involving dismemberment and racists actions of the police when I was way too young to hear that kind of thing.
Now my mother is a different story. By this, I mean she is racist in a different way. For example, last Thanksgiving my mother went off about how the property values of my house were dropping because Mexicans were moving into the neighborhood. Later that day, a group of Mexican gardeners came by to work in my mother's yard. This was all in front of a few of my Cousins, and an Aunt and Uncle.
Now, you may ask yourself, how in the fuck did 420 turn out so open minded, smart and only a little crazy?
Both sets of my grandparents (one of them remarried to a cool guy) lived within a 30 minute drive and they made sure they raised me right.
Now I am not saying my grandparents were saints, they did raise the hell-spawn after all, but they were much more laid back about their ultra-conservative opinions. (One of my grandmothers would never vote for a woman president because women are "too emotional")
This is the main reason I think people should have to get a license to have children. I mean, you get one to drive and one for a gun and you can't do nearly as much damage with either of those as you can do with spawning ignorant children!
-420
