Can you think of an example where it was a good thing your parents were not a united front?

My example is when I was starting Jr. High I remember one day at the dining room table my dad telling me that if I ever tried some drugs or drank alcohol and I felt like something was very wrong, or felt unsafe that I could always call him to pick me up. My mom said as he finished his sentence, “I don’t know what you are talking about she doesn’t have to try anything I never did.” They obviously had not discussed the matter. I remember it clearly, because they became annoyed with each other, oractically fought over the different messages. I found some humor in it then, and even more now.

I think it wound up being brilliant. I never tried drugs or drinking in school, just like my mom (well, I sometimes had a little alcohol to go along, but mostly I lied and said I was already buzzed, and eventually avoided situations where there was peer pressure to drink or do drugs). Not only had she said what she said, but she had been an example of turning drinks down in my life.

If I ever had been drunk, worried about getting home, or felt like I was possibly having an emergency, I would have been able to call my dad.

We your parents married or divorced when your situation happened? Do you think they actually were on the same page, and purposely gave different messages? As a parent would you purposely not represent a united message to your children as a strategy in their upbringing?