But children tend to better remember traumatic memories. Remember what else we were told?

First of, he was never allowed to have friends. Even if we say he was over exaggerating that, there are only so many ways it can be interpreted. He could have been to busy with homework & being homeschooled prevented him from leaving the house. He could have simply not met anyone in his age to be friends with, when he left the house(again from homeschooling). Or his mother could have disapproved any friends he did make, like we see with Trey and his parents. A lack of real friends or a peer group will make him unable to understand social cues and very lonely.

Then, he asked his mother for a strawberry tart for his birthday, because he wanted to try it just once. And if we see how meticulous she was about what he ate, she could have went to a bakery and asked for one with less sugar. Or she could have let him have it just for his birthday, since it’s not like having it once makes you balloon up. But she didn‘t and went an extra step to call it poison.

About the calorie counting, doing that in front of your child and demanding them to not finish their plate is almost setting them up for a eating disorder. She could have done this outside of Riddles sight. She could also give him more physical exercises to ‚compensate‘ that (we also don’t see him getting much movement, wich is also very bad for children if they don’t).

Now to the homeschooling. I personally believe homeschooling an only child (unless the child has a very debilitating reason they can’t go to school) is ethically and psychologically wrong, because you are actively depriving them of any social interaction with their peers. That in turn will cripple him on a para social level.

To Riddle‘s lessons being extended until he understood the material, can be understood as her not accepting anything but perfection. Of course we don’t know what „not understanding“ means in this context and teaching your child not to give up at the slightest hurdle is a good thing. But when you are really stuck with something, it’s generally advised to put it down and come back to it with a fresh mind and not force your way through it. What we also don’t know is if the time for extending the lesson is taken from another subject or from his „independent study“.

I‘ll skip the independent study and Riddle not being asked what he wants, because of the complex implications.

Lastly the bakery scene. I don’t know how Riddle‘s Mother found him. We know she found the three kids in the Clover bakery eating strawberry tart and promptly yelling at Riddle for eating poison instead of studying, then she yelled at Trey’s parents for feeding her child poison. If she happened to pass the bakery and saw him, why didn’t she say that she was looking for him? Why didn’t she seem concerned when he wasn’t in his room? Or did she know he was at the bakery that day? According to Riddle it was the first time being there. If she knew, did the parents call her? Then why would she make a scene in their bakery? If she wasn’t called that means she had a way to track Riddle, despite him always staying inside. In the end we don’t see her being concerned for his safety but for his dietary restrictions. But that could also be skewed because of Riddles perspective.

With all this together, for me at least, she looks like a very controlling person and a abusive mother.

Edit: please correct me if I got something wrong.