I am not only a parent, but also a grandparent, and I think you have written many truths in this post, even though you are not yet a parent. The three main traits you listed are certainly important ones for a parent to have.
I know my parents made some mistakes along the way, but they did the best they could with the knowledge they had. I know their own childhoods were not perfect, but I believe they improved on what they grew up with. I, too, have made mistakes with raising my children, but they all seem to have survived and are responsible adults. Some of them are finding out now how tricky parenting can be.
You are right about reading parenting books. They can be helpful, but when the nurse lays that little newborn on your tummy, it doesn't come with a handbook, and every child is different. I felt very unprepared to me a mother, even though I was 28 and married, but I figured it out as I went. Good friends and supportive family were a big help.
One of the biggest compliments I've gotten is when my youngest told me recently that her friends in high school and college thought we were the cool parents, because we treated them like people. I don't know how we could have done otherwise!
Thank you for the kind words! I don't think we can ever truly be prepared. Just seems like such a vastly different experience from anything else we might've don in the past. So yes, learn as we go.
What a wonderful compliment, indeed! It's a great treasure in a young person's life to have a parent (even if not their parent, just a grown-up) who sees and recognizes in them that maturity.