I’m curious about that phrase “successful parent”: I suppose no parent can know whether they’ve really been successful unless they can see their offspring’s life through to the end, and fortunately that does not often happen – not in this world, at least.
The fact is, a parent never ceases to be their child/children’s parent, just like we never cease to be somebody’s children. If twenty years after those wonderful moments in which I felt a thoroughly successful mum, one of my children were to commit suicide, would I be entitled to continue considering myself a successful mum nevertheless? Until what age can my children’s achievements and success be put down – to a great extent – to my efforts as a parent?
I think parents can never be called “successful” or “unsuccessful” , but rather “happy with their children”, or “not happy with their children”, and this at a particular moment of their lives, never as a final label.