When I separated from my XAH, and perhaps even way before I did, I got really mad at the "picture perfect family", because it was a FALSEHOOD that kept me subjugated to a toxic and abusive environment. I started to realize that this image, along with many others promoted by popular culture today, is fabricated. All the "till death do us part", the "Behind every man is a good woman", the "love heals all" CRAP is the reality of many broken marriage and toxic parenting dynamics that are kept in status quo because its participants want, above all, to fit the coveted mold of the "picture perfect family".
Eventuall, I reasoned that if the image is fabricated, then it can be torn down and reconstructed. My current family situation included me, my toddler, my ageing parents, 2 cats, and my boyfriend. It's nowhere near the norm, and I have discovered many in my own French-Canadian family who are offended by our arrangement, but they can go suck some lemons for all I care.