I still find it disappointing how dysfunctional we expect people to be these days. My grandfather had four children at my age, and had fought kamikaze pilots off Okinawa.

At age 9, Abraham Lincoln's father left for half a year. Abraham had to take care of his sister, hunt for food with a rifle, and chop wood to stay warm. This was in a 1-room house with no running water, no electricity, a dirt floor, and no privacy.

He turned out OK with that parenting, even elected president. Modern social services would have put him in a foster home.