#in a way i feel he'd maybe almost be more like a sachiko parent that a soichiro parent?

[13eyond13]

Could Light be a good father if he has a normal life without death note?

In my opinion, yes. I think Light as a character isn't meant to be seen as an inherently unhinged and evil person just waiting to snap. I think he's meant to be seen as somebody who would've led a fairly ordinary and upstanding life had he never come in contact with the notebook, which is sort of the irony and the horror of the situation and his character development much of the time (because it suggests that the potential for that kind of terrible behaviour could exist even amongst people with good intentions and decent prospects and upbringings and very little trauma in their childhoods to speak of and everything else). It might somewhat depend on your definition of a "good parent," but I think that he would at the very least be a dutiful and responsible parent and take the idea of being a father and a role model pretty seriously. I imagine he'd model himself after his own parents in a lot of his values and ideals and decisions. Probably would be a very busy and hard-working parent, maybe a bit overly strict and hard to please and somewhat emotionally unavailable, but also very steady and meticulous and reliable when providing the things he felt were his responsibility to do for his kids. Even if he didn't always feel like being there for them he would still show up every day and do his part to the best of his ability, because that's the way he thinks and the kind of person he is.