Me!
Another Doper writing in to tell you that I do not and have not gotten along with my parental units.
I won’t write all of the yucky details here, they suck…
But I’d like you to know that you aren’t alone, and I’m sorry that your relationship with your folks is painful to you. I know it hurts.
Jesus…
It breaks my heart to read what some of you people have gone through and it’s good that you have managed to overcome it or at least are trying to.
As for me, I barely speak to my biological father, but only because neither of us really know what to do or when to do it when dealing with things like this. We’re also both proud and stubborn, so that doesn’t help any. He can easily make me grit my teeth, but it’s generally nothing more serious than that. Politically, well, we used to be about the same (both right-winger Republican types). He’s doesn’t know that I’m way left of that now. Better to keep it that way, I suppose. EHeheheh!
I still live with my mommy and stepdaddy and when I read what others have had to go through, I feel incredibly lucky! 
My father is a sane, generally nice human being.
My mother…is…crazy.
During my period, my cramps/headache/nausea are usually so bad that I stay in bed because walking is difficult. When I suggested taking birth control pills to ease it to my mom, she flipped out because then I’d have an avenue towards sex.
She also hit me in the face while I was recovering from jaw surgery this summer.
There are other things she’s done, she’s been emotionally abusive to me since I was 9, telling me I was fat and ugly and selfish and bitchy…and so on.
I’m glad she isn’t paying for my college.
Its threads like these that make me love my parents all the more. My mom is wonderful, not perfect, but wonderful. Forteh most part she made all the child rearing rules based on the idea that if its isn’t physically or morally harmful, its okay.
This made for some rough times when I was desperate to do things that were physically and morally harmful, but a couple years after the fall out from that I have a better eye on the whole thing. She made a couple bad choices, she’s human, but over all, very well done.
My father is still a work in progress. He decided not to be a parent when I was about 7-8. I figured it out when I was about 12-13. He wanted to be a parent agian when I was 16 or so. That didn’t go over well and hence made for some rough times. It took me getting very ill and him coming to live with me at college, go to my classes, and tutor me in them for a couple of weeks to start repairing things. I know that he really does love me, he’s just not a stellar parent. Its even better now that he is actually trying to be a good parent (for my little sisters, I’m kinda done.)
For me nos. 1&3 were true. But my parents really are wonderful people, and I did a heck of a lot with my high school years. Time is always what you make of it, and you can’t control your parents any more than they can control you. Oh, and while love will always enrich your nature, it will never allow you to control someone else.