Can parents be friends with their children?

My husband and I got into a surprisingly heated debate last night and I wanted to see what others thought of our viewpoints.My view: My mother told me consistently as a child that if I liked her, she wasn't doing her job as my mother. She was rather strict and hard on me, not very affectionate but I grew up in a stable home and always had what I needed.She taught me great life lessons and I've been successful. She expected me to support myself after 18 and made sure I knew how to do so. The main point I took away from my experiences as a child is that your parents cannot and should not be your friends.However, we are not close at all as adults and she is actually very upset about this and trying to build a relationship with me now. My husband is telling me that I am going to go the same route with our children if I don't change this viewpoint.His view: His parents were very affectionate to the point of doting. He says that your parents should be your closest friends, people you can go to with anything and have a lot of fun with.He remembers crying on his father's shoulder about breakups, his father taking him to punk concerts, and in a younger example his mother leaving work early to comfort him after reading "Where the Red Fern Grows" for the first time and calling her crying. There's many more fond memories of his parents and lots of trust and affection there.He says as the kids grow older, he would like to not have curfews and teach them to be responsible of their own accord, given a lot more freedom than I think is reasonable. He was allowed to drink and smoke at home, have girls over at a young age, etc.On the opposite side of things, they didn't prepare him for life and he has had to pick up many lessons along the way. He has really struggled and made some bad choices, but his parents are always there to help him figure it out.I'm feeling confused about this and not understanding where the line is. I keep picturing Amy Poehler from Mean Girls as the horribly inappropriate mom. I honestly don't understand what was wrong with how I was raised and he keeps saying he pities me.Tl;dr Can parents truly be "friends" with their children and still prepare them for a healthy, productive life? Is there a line? Am I missing the point? via /r/Parenting http://ift.tt/2giybol