I am not defending your parents, but I will say this. I remember, when I was in Year Five, doing dictionary exercises and there was a question, "Do parents often see a semblance of themselves in their children?" When a couple are expecting a child, they have a romanticized vision of what the child will be like. My mother, before I was born, used to say that she wanted to have six boys. She had two and her eldest (me) is transitioning. When my nephew was a really little baby, my father told my brother that he needed to make the most of it because in the blink of an eye, it will be that he's moving out of home to live with Penelope. I told him that Penelope might well be Bruce. Parents often think that in 25-30 years from when their child is born that they'll have grandchildren. Granted, two men can have a baby, if they have a woman who is willing to be a surrogate, and two women, if a man donates sperm. Some parents might have to reconsider their aspirations, like they might have a child who doesn't want children or doesn't meet their ideal partner.

A parent's love for a child should be unconditional, but for many people this is not the reality. My mother doesn't love me unconditionally, either.