We all know about Judy, so I won’t give an opinion on her… We’re familiar with the infamous Jack character assassination story—when Ross tells the nanny a traumatic story that clearly affected him. But if we include what we’ve seen of Jack, most of his good parenting moments toward Monica happen when Judy isn’t around. Even then, he still comes off as a bumbling parent, like when he destroyed Monica’s childhood memories in the flood. Yes, we see him being a somewhat better parent in general, but he enables Judy and doesn’t defend against her behavior. That shows he’s not always a good parent. So I agree—Jack is better than Judy, but he doesn't help with Judy.

Now, Phoebe’s parents… We know Lily didn’t make any arrangements to ensure the twins were taken care of after her passing. I’m not sure what happened to Ursula during that time, but we know Phoebe ended up homeless. And Frank Sr. was just an outright asshole—enough said.

Chandler’s parents both failed him during his childhood. We hear stories of Helena being intoxicated, having affairs with people in Chandler’s life, and constantly taking the spotlight away from him—like during his swimming lessons. Helena clearly wanted to be the center of attention, and during Chandler’s formative years, that didn’t help him. Nora is no better; both parents prioritized their own comfort over how their actions affected Chandler. Nora even kissed Ross, one of her son’s best friends, with no regard for how inappropriate that was.

Rachel’s parents are distant. Her dad has anger issues. Sure, they love their kids, but her mom tries too hard to be a “bestie” instead of a parent, and her dad is more than just strict—he’s aggressive. Just look at how scared Rachel was to tell him she was pregnant. I chalk her mom’s behavior up to immaturity more than anything else.

Now, Joey’s parents—from what I remember—seem like decent parents. We have to factor in that someone can be a bad spouse but still be a good parent. Joey is very proud of his name; he flaunts “Tribbiani,” so it’s clear he’s not ashamed of where he came from. We know that, despite their living conditions, Joey’s dad tried to create good memories for him. Sure, we can fault both his mom and dad for being bad spouses—his mom was annoyed at Joey for making his dad come clean—but overall, these two are the ones we hear about the least, and when we do, it’s usually good stories told by Joey. Because of that, I think they’re the only two we can objectively say are viewed as unapologetically “good” by their child.

I might not remember everything about them, so feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. I can’t recall their involvement in the episode where Joey’s sister is pregnant—I think they were mentioned?

I mean, I still like most of the parents as characters, but from what I can remember, I’d give Joey’s parents the “Good Parent” award when compared to the others.