As Good as I Could Be

the long version

"Using the domestic details of her family's life, [the author] illuminates larger truths, starting with the most basic: in order to raise happy, stable, successful children, parents can't be afraid to use their authority--financial, emotional, and experiential; a family is not--and should not be--a democracy; teaching your children to celebrate their mistakes may help them to forgive you yours; and no matter how damaged or unhappy an adult's childhood was, it should not affect the way they parent their children."--Jacket.