Sociopath is the wrong word to use, and that is the crux of the entire post. There's nothing so clear cut in this kind of situation. The parent isn't strictly t

Sociopath is the wrong word to use, and that is the crux of the entire post. There's nothing so clear cut in this kind of situation. The parent isn't strictly trying to get something from the child with this apology. I think the parent is having their own internal struggle between validating the stuggles the child faced and understanding they were part of the cause. They lose sight of some things because they have an "ends justify the means" mindset. In a sense, they were okay being the "bad guy" so that their child was set up for the best future possible.