Character Analysis
Titus's mom is a bit of mystery: she works "in design" (16.3) and was super happy with the engagement ring Titus's dad hid in his fake cyst when he proposed to her (yuck!). She's hands-off with Titus, letting him do what he wants, and going along with his dad's idea to buy Titus his own upcar for the horrible experience he had with getting his feed hacked.
Maybe She's a Good Mother?
With Smell Factor, though, Titus's mom seems to take the concept of attachment parenting to a whole new level:
My mother was always holding on to my brother, Smell Factor, like squeezing him like a doll. She was real busy with him and she went to peewee league games for him and even took him to work with her sometimes.
This seems like a pretty engaged and positive way to parent, but the "like a doll" seems off, like maybe Smell Factor just an accessory, part of her 2.5 kids and house in the suburbs.
Hands Way, Way Off Parenting
Granted, Mom's attempts at active parenting don't seem very successful. When Smell Factor is running around the house screaming, she bribes him with cookie dough; when this doesn't work, she physical traps him, like some kind of animal: "She slammed some doors. I think she must've caught up to him" (52.44).
It's almost like Titus's mom doesn't really know how to parent, and maybe mostly expects the feed to do this for her. What with Smell Factor losing himself in Top Quark and Titus going into mal with his punk friends, she doesn't have to expend much effort on the parenting—and she seems happy with it.
The big point here is that Titus's mom doesn't really seem to have genuine affection for her kids. Sure, she talks about how handsome Titus is ("like a duck in butter"), and how he's a "non-traditional learner," but for the most part, she's just kind o … there. Even when we see the only example of affection she shows toward Titus—a hug—he remarks that it's "all staged" (25.49).