system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Star Trek] Why do Starfleet Officers make such bad parents?

**Wesley Crusher**: A socially-inept genius who gets a fellow cadet killed before abandoning his family and friends to shirk his responsibilities and gallivant the universe. 

**Alexander Rozhenko**: Despite being raised without a father, then by an elderly couple, and eventually reluctantly by his own father he still grew up to be a weenie. 

**Molly O'Brien**: Was once lost to a hell dimension for 10 years, only to be saved by accident. 

**Will Riker**: Hated his father well into his adulthood.

**David Marcus**: Well-rounded despite hating his absentee father.

I guess **Jake Sisko** and **Deanna Troi** (even though her own kid(Ian II) killed himself after 48 hours of her parenting) turned out all right.
gpt
I would not say the O'Brien's were bad parents at all... they had no way to know that Molly was going to fall into the portal they had no idea existed until it was too late. 

Riker's father was not a star fleet officer but did work for the Federation.

Wesley (father KIA), Jake (Mother KIA at WOLF 359) and Alexander (witnessed his mother's murder) each lost a parent at a young age...even with counseling they would have had lasting effects from these losses. 

Lwaxana Troi was a Federation Ambassador and Deanna turned out just fine.

Ensign Wildeman raised her daughter Naomi on her own 75k light years from home. Naomi turned out alright and even helped save The USS Voyager.

 Overall Id say many officers try to be the best parents they can be in a military family while deployed in less than ideal situations.