I think my mum would have been much happier if she'd never had me or my brother, and she's been a great parent. She's quite neuortic and shy and I get the sense that a lot of that comes from having to constantly think about other people (she also nurses the elderly for a living so she never stops being a mother in a sense). Now me and my brother have left home (for now) I can tell she's having a much better time. She just came up and visited me today; we went for lunch and did touristy things and it was great. I can see her in an alternate universe living on her own and being much more confident and loving it. I don't say that she was a great mother to be disrespectful to those with more challenging relationships with their parents, but it's just that sometimes the indicators of unhappiness are much more subtle. I can't imagine her even considering not having children, but I've always felt like I've made her something of a victim in some ways. I suppose we all have these sorts of hang ups with our parents. My father, on the other hand, has no imagination and would probably have wasted away without my mother. I cannot imagine him not being married and having children, at all.