Mothers' Experiences of Successful Parenting in Education: A Phenomenological Study

The topic of the relationship between parents and children has attracted the attention of educators over the years. The family is the first base to create a connection between the child and his surroundings. This study aimed to infer mothers' understanding of successful parenting in education to determine the angles and dimensions. Although few studies have examined the relationship between parenting styles and academic achievement, the only way that can capture the mental perception of mothers of academic achievement is a phenomenological qualitative research. Among mothers with successful children in education in Rasht city, Guilan province, 31 people were selected through purposeful sampling until they reached the saturation level, and interviewed. The conversations were recorded by permission of the mothers, recorded on paper, and analyzed using Colaizzi method. Based on the data obtained, 12 main concepts of successful parenting were extracted: discipline, stimulate curiosity, self-education, counseling, teacher role, individual characteristics, information, study, targeting, expectations, environment, and independence. In this study, the role of three factors is fundamental and pivotal: interaction of individual characteristics with mother, student-teacher interaction, self-achievement. Based on the results, it can be concluded that self-achievement is a collection of all the actions of mothers, teachers, and individual characteristics of the students.