Why is it that kids always grow up to think that they can raise their kids better than their parents did? It's as if parenting is this grand equation and generation by generation we are solving for variables. Every generation has been able to observe their parents and see what variable they attempted to solve and the outcome, either a success or a failure-and granted, if the variable is found, there are infinite solutions to the other, innumerable, variables. There is never a solution to the parenting equation, but why does each generation believe that some how they will be able to magically solve this equation in one shot?
Do people actually learn from their parents' mistakes and take their actions and advice into consideration when raising their own children? Do they automatically think, "well, I didn't turn out right, so my parents must have done it wrong"?
Or do people take into consideration the variables previous generations have solved, and work with them until something decent arrives from their offspring?