Who is your favourite fictional mother figure?

[DontTellMama]

Something I’ve been working on in therapy for a long time is what makes a good (enough) mother. And I’ve realised I don’t have any real life role models of good mothers (aunts and uncles on one side of the family are childless, and on the other side are estranged), so I’m looking to fiction for some help!

Who would you say is the best/your favourite fictional mother figure?

Another vote for Louis in Malcolm in the Middle.
The blend of neuroticism and sheer determination was excellent and somehow everyone watching (child or parent) could somehow relate to her character.

lol that made me laugh! maybe Grandma Mole but not Pauline!

I thought of Maria in the sound of music as well! Julie Andrews is so warm and wonderful in that role.

Ellen O’Hara in Gone with the Wind?
Polly’s mother, Lady Montdore in Love in a Cold Climate. She is so appalling but in an amusing way.

Edited to correct typo

She shipped all her kids off to boarding school. And then when she had no kids at home for 9 months of the years she still didn’t get a job despite her family living on the poverty line? Doesn’t seem like great parenting to me.

Fictional mothers are often awful or absent or dead because it makes for a better story. Kids can't get up to adventures if they have a loving mother keeping an eye on them.

There's Mrs Walker from Swallows and Amazons, but I think she falls into the 'bit too good to be true' category. Mrs Blackett is more realistic - we see her harassed and frazzled.

Pam Marlow gets some stick, but it's largely because of plot devices imposed on her by the author. Her hands-off approach suits the children she has.

Exactly. Leaving your 15,13 and 11 year old kids at school over Christmas is crazy. Not to mention she only sees them 8 weeks a year anyway.

[Molly Weasley] shipped all her kids off to boarding school

There wasn't much option for wizarding children, was there. They needed to learn how to control and use their abilities. We saw what happened to Harry before he knew he was a wizard.

Yes! They are fabulous, and they encourage and support the girls to follow their own individual interests.

Mine too🤣. Helps that in real life my surname is a name in the books. I'd like to learn to knit

She didn’t need to leave them there for Christmas too though did she.
And my point was more that for 9months of the year it was only her and Arthur at home and yet she still didn’t do anything to pull them out of poverty. She had plenty of time to get a job. Providing for your kids is an important part of being a good mother.

Thank you everyone for all of these suggestions - lots that I am not familiar with so that’s my reading list set up for the next few months!

Emma Thompson’s character in Love Actually has always been my favourite in that film, there’s something very comforting about her and imagining what it would be like to be hugged by her is a really lovely thought.

Love the suggestions of Anne from Motherland!

Interesting that a lot of the suggestions (where I know who they are and what they look like, at least) have been buxom women. My own mother is in her 70s and still obsessed with her weight and how many grams of sugar are in everything that passes her (and my) lips. Not so good for hugging.

She didn’t need to leave them there for Christmas too though did she.

Well she did because JKR's plot required it! Characters (mostly) have to do what the author tells them.

Nina Banks from Father of the Bride
Sister Julienne
The Princess of Wales

Ma in “Room” by Emma Donoghue. Despite the terrible circumstances in which she and Jack live, she takes great care of him, protects him from Old Nick, and prepares him for the outside world.

A silly one, but “Mumsey” in the earlier series of the Crystal Maze. Richard o’Brien would often speak about how much he loved her.

This was my initial thought.

YY to Molly Weasley, Miss Honey and Maria!

Another iteration of Julie Walters came to mind for me too: the ballet teacher from Billy Elliott.

I had a thought!

The mum I wish I had, vs the mum I aspire to be, is Kitty Forman from That 70’s Show.

Yes, so true! I just love the dynamic in their house and especially the way she interacts with her son.

I also love the relationship between Freddie and Lucy, which I think is a marker of good parenting too. They care about each other.

I also think it's a good blueprint for how to cope if your daughter has a dreadful boyfriend...

I'll definitely re-read it when my kids are that age. I have a dd and ds with a similar age gap

As soon as I read op’s title Ma Larkin was my very first thought too, everything above and also kind, calm and welcoming.

A bit more obscure but I always thought Kevin the Kitten's mother (from the 1970s kids books) was a great mother. She was more of an old-fashioned stay at home mother who wore an apron all the time, but a lot of mums were like that back then!

Miranda Bailey. greys anatomy
i I think she would be incredibly loyal, truthful and protective

Lois from Malcolm in the Middle. No matter what those boys or Hal did, she always got the better of them. She was brilliant.

One of the only series that I've watched twice and if it comes round again, I'll probably still watch it.

She starts out as a Mother of Dragons!

I hope it's ok if I mention fictional Dads...

I loved Mr Gibson in Wives and Daughters - he makes the mistake of remarrying badly but he stays close to his daughter throughout and manages that as best he can.

And Dr Thorne by Anthony Trollope, albeit an adoptive father, I loved the way he defended Mary when the rich family turned on her.

The grandmother in the Green Knowe books.

Both Miss Heliotrope and Loveday Minnette in The Little White Horse.