[@Gowi] 
Haha, yeah, that's the idea I was going for -- a kid that's never dealt with anything truly difficult in his life, who suddenly goes through a special kind of hell and comes out on the other side a little more grown up (among other, less desirable side-effects, like having a couple mental illnesses cropping up). 

Nuclear family just means the part of a family that includes the father, the mother, and their kids, so I was just saying that's who he grew up with. Though I may have used it wrong, now that I'm looking at it. Huh. I'll go look it up and probably change it for clarity's sake.