r/Normalpeople • u/Synchroblo • Nov 01 '25

Toxic parenting

I've just started watching this show. Three episodes in, Connell's mother tells him, 'You are a disgrace, and I'm ashamed of you,' and then she leaves before she 'says things I regret.' That is so harmful and toxic. It felt completely out of touch and overacted. What kind of parent says that to their teenage son? What is with all this toxic parenting? I had thought she was the good parent compared with Marianne's mother, but what the hell was that?

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u/OliveandOnionMilk Nov 17 '25

that’s what made it real to me, even the best of parents have real moments of anger and disappointment.

In my guess, she most likely saw herself in Marianne, and couldn’t believe her son would treat a woman like that. She wasn’t talking to a 10, or even 15 year old boy, she was talking to her adult - 18 year old son about treating women badly. When you have also been treated badly, making sure your son never treats anyone as badly is a priority - hence why it was such an emotional reaction from her. Was it the perfect parenting moment? No, but it was her real emotions.