To feel like a very inadequate mother after reading this?

Pretentious horseshit. You’re fine.

Why would that make you feel inadequate?

Her Mum would have taught her about greek mythology etc because that's what her Mum was interested in, and she developed an interest as a result.

From my Dad I got a love of Chess, and sci fi. From my Mum, baking and Corrie. My brother on the other hand had no interest in any of those things, so picked up shared interests in football and jazz from them.

In turn, I've passed on a love of Mario Kart and (very different) sci fi to my daughter, while DP has passed on her love of the guitar, 80s metal, and superheroes. DD in turn has started educating us in Greek Mythology.

No, @Rainallnight , you're not teaching your kids the classics, presumably because the classics don't interest you. But you will have shared some interests with them, and that's the important bit.

I don't think I can add anything to the wisdom of the posts already posted.

The best thing you can do for your children is simply to be yourself, showing up every day and loving them.

I don’t think that passage is a great testimony to motherhood or parenthood or nurturing of any kind: in fact I think it is pretty sad.

Anyone, literally anyone, can teach you facts and history.

The people who teach you to be human, to love, to care, and to have fun, are the ones who actually matter.

I tried to do similar with mine & they said ‘borrrrring’! :) Why do the children in other memoirs not do this :). Advice you’ve had is wise, love them.

My Mother taught me how to read comics. The art inherent in the drawings, and the Beano and the Dandy use of the vernacular were useful for feeling part of the community. We could identify people 'just like us'

I've written acknowledgements for my own books (not novels and nothing nearly as best selling as In Memoriam). You spin things to make them sound profound. So yes, my DParents did fill the house with books and encourage me to read them but they spent a lot of time cooking, cleaning, earning a living, nagging us, telling us off, running baths, washing clothes - all the daily crap I now do for my kids more than I point out things of beauty, joys forever. I didn't mention any of that in my acknowledgements. Probably should have done.

Just love them OP. Love them with all your love. It's the most important thing. A lot of kids don't have that.

Edited to add: my parents didn't do those things, but they loved me so much, made me feel loved, and were always proud of me. They were fantastic.

Meh I don’t think so. I mean my mother taught me a few things but I was not her only child and she worked. Sure she gave me good books but is that the same as saying ‘my mother ensured I was educated in classical literature’? They also took us to lots of churches while driving through Europe as kids - no wait I should say ‘we had a thorough grounding in the fundamentals of Romanesque and Gothic Spanish architecture’. I could spin it that way for sure.