The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung wrote that "the greatest burden a child must bear is the unlived life of the parents," by which he meant that where and how our caretakers were stuck in their development becomes an internal paradigm for us also to be stuck. Frequently we find ourselves dealing with a parent's unresolved issues. At times we may replicate the patterns of our ancestors, we may rebel and attempt to do the opposite. Interestingly, antagonism to the influences of parents binds us just as tightly as compliance. Either way, antecedents limit and confine us. Perhaps this fact is behind the ancient biblical admonition that the sins of a man shall be visited "upon the children's children, unto the third and fourth generation."
Robert Johnson (Living Your Unlived Life)