You wouldn't expect it from my family if you were to meet us- we are doing fine financially, involved in the church, and my parents are social and make friends easily. That's what the public sees, and it's exactly how they want to be seen. And to be honest, there are some good times. My dad can be very sweet and funny when he's in a good mood. But there's also a very dark side that is never seen by the public. Aside from the public image they play, my dad's an angry drunk and my mom is just his puppet. My parents had me young (in college) and because of their upbringing (growing up religious/old fashioned/midwestern) they are those parents who stuck together for the kids and think divorces are just wrong. My dad's the breadwinner and my mom is just a stay at home mom, so money-spending issues often arise. My dad, has always had a way of bringing me down no matter what it is. Since I was a kid nothing was EVER good enough. And when I showed interest in something he would always act disinterested and disappointed. And every time I acted up, you best believe he blistered my ass. Oh yeah, he's all about that old fashioned parenting. The physical fights were past the point of "teaching me a lesson" and more of an outlet of all his built up anger. And yes, I have seen him hit/threaten/choke my mom before. Mostly as a kid, and for the most part that has slowed down thank god. When he gets mad, he sees RED. Just in the past year he has broken our dining table (picked it up and flipped it slamming it to the floor) all my sisters were just watching in horror, punched through our family picture and a cabinet. And every time he has a rage like this he yells at my mom how he wants a divorce. But 2 days later they're all lovey-dovey like nothing ever happened. He constantly says things to me like "why can't you do things right?" "Why do we always have problems with you?" "You should get out already-we don't want you here" and my mom just agrees with everything he says, I think out of fear? I'm just so confused and feel so worthless everytime I'm around him. Sorry for this rant I just can't deal with this anymore!