I don’t think “mediocrity” is the right word to apply to parenting that leaves you some slack and doesn’t involve crazily striving for violin virtuosity in your children. There are lots of axes on which parents can vary. Being, say, really consistent with Faber&Mazlish style parenting skills even when you are sleep deprived, would be amazing parenting, and that’s probably still worth getting better at for almost every parent on the margin, while leaving room for slack and not-being-insane-about-the-violin.
I don’t think “mediocrity” is the right word to apply to parenting that leaves you some slack and doesn’t involve crazily striving for violin virtuosity in your children. There are lots of axes on which parents can vary. Being, say, really consistent with Faber&Mazlish style parenting skills even when you are sleep deprived, would be amazing parenting, and that’s probably still worth getting better at for almost every parent on the margin, while leaving room for slack and not-being-insane-about-the-violin.