To feel like a very inadequate mother after reading this?

Oh please don't feel inadequate. This sounds so cold! (And I'm a writer too.) I'd hate it if my son wrote something like this about me. I think, as a mum, you can maybe hope to be a bit inspirational, but really, all you need is a whole lot of love and a certain amount of patience. One thing we did, when he was a child, was slog around what the family called 'mum's heaps of old stones'. I loved archaeology, old buildings of all kinds. I didn't think much of it had gone in, but now, my grown-up son's holiday pictures are full of temples, castles, palaces and all kinds of 'heaps of old stones'. If I'm honest, I enjoy thinking 'my work here is done!' but I never, ever thought of it as 'teaching'. I think if I had, he'd have been off like a shot. And I wouldn't have been remotely disappointed if he didn't like them at all. As others have said, there's no warmth in this acknowledgment at all.

You can only pass on to your kids what you know and are interested yourself.
you might not be interested in pshysics, chemistry, maths etc, but you lived enough to be able to pass on other interesting knowledge, music for example

Whatever you’re doing look at it like this -

Do your kids come home from school and into an environment where they are wanted, welcome and treated with care ?

When dinner time comes is there enough food for them to be full and enjoy before they go to bed in a home where they are safe and sheltered ?

They are not punished with physical violence or mental trauma ?

When they seek comfort because they are afraid, they run to you or the other parent because you are a safe space ?

They are regularly treated for any medical or dental needs ?

They are being educated ?

They are clothed adequately through the seasons ?

Yes to all of the above - you’re an amazing mother.

Yes, that’s def what should happen & wonderful you’re sensitive to that. It sounds obvious & intuitive, IME it’s not.

Of course. But it's about picking up on what they are interested in and engaging with that.

I have one child who is a book work (so I keep them supplied with any books they want) and one who is dyslexic and not at all keen on books - but she loves the theatre so we go regularly

It’s one paragraph. We are told it is about a parent child relationship but if you read it without knowing that it could be about anyone.

Yes, true. They might not be interested in all you share & have preferences though too.

Actually there was something nice the other day. I looked out of the bus window at the changing leaves and said to DS14 "What is it that I tell you about leaves every autumn?" He sighed and said "The reds and yellows are always there under the green - you just can't see them until autumn when the green breaks down."

My work here is done 🎉

I've not done anywhere near as much as that. However my children do know the difference between can I and may I, and when either should be used - I count this as my most important piece of wisdom 😂

I’m sure you’re doing just fine.
Don't forget she is an author and they have a way with words.
BTW wonderful book. Have also just finished it.

Why? I don't see why some people need to denigrate people who enjoy intellectual activities just to make someone feel better

It's possible to say there are many ways to be a great parent without resorting to implying that anyone who reads and discusses good book must be a flawed parent with a joyless life.

Ops parenting the way her children need her to, that's all that matters. It's a weak argument if you need to slur others to reassure someone

@Rainallnight im sure you are a lovely parent, there’s many different ways to be a lovely mother.

I love drawing and colouring and DD always hated it 🤷🏻‍♀️ but we did many other things that she remembers fondly. Each family is different.

Don’t be silly OP, a vanishingly small number of people teach their children Greek mythology and Chinese history. It’s mostly one or the other surely.

Only on MN could I ever come across several people calling it pretentious, I despair

Of course we realise that, but this isn’t the place for that comment clearly. Read the room.

Children are all different. Loving learning/reading doesn't make a child "compliant" though. It just means they love learning /reading. That's just one facet of who a person is

I agree that tone doesn't come across in the op but it absolutely does in some of the subsequent posts

I’m impressed you finished the book! It’s the first book I returned to audible, I didn’t enjoy it at all!

It sounds as if that (super)mum should be applying for the £180k tutor job currently being discussed on here.....

My mother taught me that the sticky part of the sanitary towel goes on your knickers

That was it, nothing else about periods or sex or anything - just that gem of information.

@Rainallnight the basics are:
How to eat
How to sleep (and a lot of parents are not very good with this)
How to use the loo
How to swim
How to ride a bike
How to interact with your peers
How to interact with society politely

At school - parents need to basically need to teach them how to read and do times tables.

I am amazed at all these compliant children mine pushed back, a lot. I live in a library :)(they weren’t much interested in books) & yet they’ve gone on to do things I’d never have predicted & didn’t catch my passions I’d tried to subtly indoctrinate.

Some mums are just superstars I guess.
My mother was amazing, she taught me lots through just talking, we talked a lot.
I mean some people just shine but that doesn't mean we don't matter.
Our families value us and that's enough.

Ours both love reading and theatre because that’s what we do so they just do it too. Also scrabble. We are a words and literature family but none of us are great at maths and science. My lockdown home schooling was very skewed!

You're missing the point. The OP is suggesting that she thinks the mother who introduced her DC to all the stuff mentioned, is somehow superior to her, and other mothers who don't teach their child about Chinese history and Greek Mythology and so on.... (And she's not superior.)

No-one has said you can't have both love and care from parents AND learn about certain shit too!