I don't think it's fair to compare Molly and Bella in order to put Molly's parenting skills in perspective. That would be like saying that Arthur is a fabulous father... compared to Lord Voldemort. Bella and Voldie are both crazy as a sack of drunk monkeys. The only other mother in the series that we can compare her to is Petunia. We haven't really seen any other examples of motherhood. They are entirely (Mrs. Granger) or primarily ('Cissy') absent, or else just die when their kids are infants.
I judge Molly only through her own words and actions. Molly shrieks at her kids and husband all of the time. (It would be interesting to go back through the series and compare the number of times she shrieked vs. talked normally to her kids.) She fawns over one kid who fits her ideal, and constantly compares the others to him which just makes all of them miserable. She gushes on and on about celebrities but then chastises her own 11 year old daughter for doing the same thingand mind you, Molly is Ginny's only frame of reference in that family for being female. She is passively or even overtly horrible towards the series' 'token' Muggleborn kid, Hermione. At times (the easter egg incident), Molly's pettiness seems motivated by her extraordinary interest in Harry (jealousy?). Her two eldest kids left the *country,* her next eldest is an angry, disliked family outcast, her next two dropped out of school and are greedy, horrible people, she inflicts demeaning, shoddy clothes and food on her youngest son, who constantly whines about being poor, and her daughter has turned into a smart-mouthed, aggressive terror of a teen. She henpecks the bejeezus out of her mealy-mouthed, idiot of a husband. She fawns over, and openly shows favoritism towards a 'celebrity' orphan boy who is not her own child.
Argh! I guess Molly is my shadow character! Ginny I don't actually mind at all. She is a splendid 'angry little brat' of a teen. She still has time to balance out her behavior and curb all of her angry, acting out nonsense. (Or possibly not. I truly do see her possession by Voldemort as being akin to child abuse, and child abuse victims are often screwed up for their whole life. Right now, Ginny is actually acting exactly as I would expect her to act, given what happened to her, and how she was raised by her only female role model -- Molly.) But Molly? Molly is a grown up adult and ought to know better.
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I judge Molly only through her own words and actions. Molly shrieks at her kids and husband all of the time. (It would be interesting to go back through the series and compare the number of times she shrieked vs. talked normally to her kids.) She fawns over one kid who fits her ideal, and constantly compares the others to him which just makes all of them miserable. She gushes on and on about celebrities but then chastises her own 11 year old daughter for doing the same thingand mind you, Molly is Ginny's only frame of reference in that family for being female. She is passively or even overtly horrible towards the series' 'token' Muggleborn kid, Hermione. At times (the easter egg incident), Molly's pettiness seems motivated by her extraordinary interest in Harry (jealousy?). Her two eldest kids left the *country,* her next eldest is an angry, disliked family outcast, her next two dropped out of school and are greedy, horrible people, she inflicts demeaning, shoddy clothes and food on her youngest son, who constantly whines about being poor, and her daughter has turned into a smart-mouthed, aggressive terror of a teen. She henpecks the bejeezus out of her mealy-mouthed, idiot of a husband. She fawns over, and openly shows favoritism towards a 'celebrity' orphan boy who is not her own child.
Argh! I guess Molly is my shadow character! Ginny I don't actually mind at all. She is a splendid 'angry little brat' of a teen. She still has time to balance out her behavior and curb all of her angry, acting out nonsense. (Or possibly not. I truly do see her possession by Voldemort as being akin to child abuse, and child abuse victims are often screwed up for their whole life. Right now, Ginny is actually acting exactly as I would expect her to act, given what happened to her, and how she was raised by her only female role model -- Molly.) But Molly? Molly is a grown up adult and ought to know better.