Like beauty, failure is in the eye of the beholder. Read your writing through your readers' eyes to see a very caring & loving mother between the letters. Failures & successes are like taking sides on a glass half full or empty. It's a matter of perspective than reality, but either full or empty it brings recrimination and misery, which doesn't help you parent at all.

Holding on & taking steps forward are not a matter of perspective, it is real, comforting & gives you strength. Your writing betrays your estimation of yourself as a failing parent. I read a very strong and powerful mother & daughter. Trust what is really real not the fear & trembling between your typeface.

The fear of failure exists in all loving parents. Without doubt & fear, we are closer to over-confident sociopaths than parents training to be loving triathletes. Your daughter's father ironically helps you to be the best you can be.

Congratulations on your new job. Doors still open when you think you are a failure. I have a suspicion you are more of a glass-half-full mother than half-failure. The best is to kindly ignore your whining glass. Good job on your article and realizing you are more than your perspective as a failure.

Children passively soak up parents' misery like osmosis to a child's spongy core. I'm trying to install a reverse osmosis filter to my image as a toxic father given to me by others who have polluted my self-confidence willingly or unknowingly. I hope my son will drink clean water from me someday, but clarity & clean take time & patience. Good luck. You appear like a fantastic mom than how you think of yourself.

Keep on truckin'