<p>I think the OP here is perfectly justified in feeling that he is living with the consequences of some bad parenting.</p>
<p>I agree with umcp11 that the best way forward is to focus on the opportunities of the future rather than the mistakes of the past.</p>
<p>But I do not think it would be easy to determine how to mend fences with the parents. Or even if the OP should.</p>
<p>To say that parents did “the best that they could” – what if their best was abysmal? Is the child expected to just carry on as if that was okay, have a relationship with the parents that pretends like bad things never happened?</p>