let me tell you why i don't like parents. not my parents, of course, but people who have kids.
they are obscenely self-centered while assuming the air of a benevolent altruist, which invariably causes them to affect extreme defensive and superior attitudes when confronted with anything but pathetic admiration. this is hardly an attractive characteristic.
let's take me as an explanatory case. i'm single, 26, live alone, and would be considered irresponsible in just about every facet of life. the straight community would consider my demographic to be easily the most egocentric group out there. (by "straight community" here i mean all those people who are married with kids in the suburbs and go to church and watch oprah and the today show: that vast nebulous mass of people who think they're living the american dream.) the reason the straight community feels this way is that they consider my lifestyle to be unfulfilled, and that my void is filled by egocentric diversions or thoughts. i suppose i can't speak for all of my social class, but i think it's just the opposite: i think my lack of life fulfillment (in their eyes) frees me to be more open-minded and especially more sensitive toward others.
someone who has a kid has a one-track mind. the only thing that matters to that person is the health and happiness of their child. and, while anyone who's ever truly been in love with someone--or, let's be honest, simply in love with being in love with someone--will tell you that this is indeed a noble pursuit, it has absolutely nothing to do with the greater good.
it is not hard to love or to care immensely for someone. i believe it's what we're hard-wired to do; it comes natural to us and, logically then, we have an endless supply of it to give. so when a parent focuses all his energy on his child, he isn't sacrificing love for all in order to give more love to one, he's just neglecting and ignoring all but the one. he's taking an extreme stance of self-centrism and projecting it upon his child instead of himself. this doesn't make it any better or any less what it is.
so parents: don't ever act like you're better than me or my ilk simply because you exhalt another human being who also happens to share your dna. it's hypocritical and it's unbecoming. i love and respect everyone, except, at times, you.