Yeah I never got the feeling that she was understanding at all, but I always got that feeling that the show thought that they were portraying her as a great mother, and that her harsher parenting momemts were perfectly reasonable with the knowledge that she had.

I'm sorry, but if you see your daughter slaying a vampire for the first time and clearly dealing with some major drama, you do not respond by telling her to never return to her home if she can't make more time for you right then and there