Children are not pets to provide emotional support to the parents. Children are not parasites born to live off their parents forever. Children are in the first stage of life that will hopefully be as productive and supportive of themselves and society as a whole as they are capable of.

I know several people who were left to keep the residence going in the Alaska winter wilderness when they weren't even into their teens yet.

My point is that the hardest part of parenting is doing what is required to rear our children to become good adults. That is not peculiar to us humans. I've sat on a riverbank and watched as a mother moose has forced her calf to strike out on his/her own. The calf will cry most piteously. The mother mooses displays body language that she really doesn't like what she is doing. But, making the calf grow up is the right thing to do, and she knows it. If she doesn't she ruins the lives of both the calf and herself.

It isn't that anyone is perfect, or heartless or mean. It is just that a hard part of parenting is to be a parent come rain or shine.