What is Winter's relationship like with her mother?

Winter's relationship with her mother is one of being equals rather than mother and daughter. Her mother is a product of poverty and ghetto life herself, and she gives birth to Winter at age fourteen. She behaves more as Winter's sister than her mother, counseling Winter to be the same as she is, to establish a relationship with men that controls them while allowing them to think they are in control. She is the pampered teacher of the selfish and shallow values that Winter has internalized.