I read the original post on the first day itself and was disgusted with the poor approach, but refrained to reply as didn't want to write anything inappropriate ... anyways others have more or less written what i felt.
Anyway.. being a useless kid to my parents I was very much fascinated with relation between how the kids turn up and how their their parents were. I kind of kept notes of how well/bad my friends are doing and how nice/bad/cool/strict/lenient their parents are. And honestly till date I have now been able to find a definitive pattern. Kids of very cool parents have grown up to be total f-up and others with very unloving ( at least superficially ) have excelled in every field...
But having said that, there are couple of things that I believe weigh a lot. If your parents are cool, then when you f-up in life then there is always a guilt that you are hurting someone who cares for you. That feeling is not that strong when kids are distant with their parents. But then sometimes that guilt can lead to very serious consequences...
Also I believe that what kind of company the kids keeps, defines their overall understanding and behavior. And i think that parents can control to an extent what kind of company their kids are keeping. This is a very complex process with lots of if/and buts and counter arguments. Have spent lot of booze sessions with friends on same and the topic never ends...
So even I wont start with verbal diarrhea and just say - "Be near and dear to you kids ... so that they believe that you are the first person to come to when they are on cross roads and don't know which which way to take."
All The Best.