SELECT 
  category_id, 
  parent_id 
FROM 
  cscart_categories 
WHERE 
  parent_id IN(
    968, 974, 970, 1000, 976, 978, 983, 972, 
    1005, 1007, 2542, 2549
  )

Query time 0.00039

JSON explain

{
  "query_block": {
    "select_id": 1,
    "table": {
      "table_name": "cscart_categories",
      "access_type": "range",
      "possible_keys": ["parent"],
      "key": "parent",
      "key_length": "3",
      "used_key_parts": ["parent_id"],
      "rows": 42,
      "filtered": 100,
      "index_condition": "cscart_categories.parent_id in (968,974,970,1000,976,978,983,972,1005,1007,2542,2549)"
    }
  }
}