Parents are never forgiven for not giving just the right response at the appropriate moment. Or, rather, there are particular times in the adolescent’s or young adult’s life, when a certain response is needed, and this need is not met, and the failure to meet this need is forever remembered, and is never forgiven.

Terri Apter (b. 1967) British psychologist, author

Altered Loves, ch. 3 (1990)