A family's 'culture' type trumps its parenting style

And while parents may fall into categories, experts note that children are still very individualized, siblings are often quite unlike each other. The Carmans already see that in their kids.

"We do have great hope for our children and their futures," says Lorna Carman, who has concluded from the brief descriptions that she and her husband, who teaches special education in a high school, are probably just a little more American Dreamer than Faithful. Barely.

"But we are not so naive as we once were as parents, before the recession, about how hard it might be for them to achieve success in their future families and careers. And so we work harder to empower them psychologically and spiritually, not through extracurricular activities and extra lessons... but through communicating with them, educating them about the world, spending time with them and building a trusting relationship with them.

"We don't hope to be their best friends someday necessarily, but we would like them to know we are their biggest supporters, their advocates, we will alway love them and they can talk to us."

EMAIL: lois@desnews.com, Twitter: Loisco