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As an adult child of absolutely rotten parents, I'm torn about this. I look around and see a lot of misery and badly-adjusted people who probably could have turned out much better if they'd had decent parents. The "you have to have a license for a dog but any idiot can have a child" argument really resonates with me. If my own parents had been more mature and emotionally stable, I probably would be a more emotionally stable person myself. But I also see a lot of complete assholes whose parents were perfectly good. I think the causal relationship between parenting and behavioral outcomes is a really complicated thing to take apart. A lot of the things that make me miserable sometimes (occasional bouts of low self-esteem, anxiety, etc.) also make me who I am and are the flip side of the things that are my best strengths (because I sometimes don't feel good about myself, I try really hard to do well at everything; because I'm anxious, I'm also organized, methodical, careful, and thorough). I think it's really hard to play god with these issues and draw the lines in places that make sense for the well-being of society, and that also wouldn't produce a boring, Stepford-like race of Uber-children. I mean, really - think about some of the most well-adjusted people you know. Individually, they're great - but wouldn't it be boring if that's all there was?
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"If ten million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."
- Anatole France
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