Do parents deserve love unconditionally? Often we as people are born into a family. This family can range from the “traditional” nuclear family to the growingly common “alternative” family. With being born into a family some bonds come along with it, this parent-child bond is what I am interested in examining. Is it something that is set in stone upon birth? Is it a condition which cannot be changed? Or does this connection between parent and child come with a certain set of conditions? Of course it’s safe to assume the majority of people would out right claim that it is set at birth and only an ungrateful person would deny his or her mother’s or father’s love, or that a parent just has not been patient enough with their child to refuse love to them. If there are conditions, what may they be? If these conditions put either child or parent at risk for diminished quality of life, may it just be better to lose the love for a parent or child? I grew up in a small suburban community, like many other American kids. My father worked for the Department of Defense and my mother was a hairdresser. My father worked long days and my mother would be the one to watch over us most of the time. Of course my brother and I would get into trouble as little boys do. I was always worse than my brother when it came to disobeying rules and basically causing havoc. The typical punishment for just about any offensive minor or major was a spanking. Common in the time I know and even more common in my mothers’ time as she was raised in a very Christian, “Spare the rod spoil the child” type household. I hated getting spankings and every time it happened it made me hate my mother a little bit. It’s not that she was the only one to dish out punishments; my father spanked us as well, although he did prefer his belt to hand spanking. But it was the minor differences that made me not hate my