Mary Casssatt believed that a mother's role extended beyond patriarchal chores. Rather, Mary Cassatt advertised the importance of mothers as mentors. As with the banjo lesson, Cassatt's later works advertise more directly the educational role of mothers, emphasizing even more clearly their role as mentors and instructors of their children. The view of a mother as an instructor rather than a nursemaid is clearly seen in Cassatt's "Family Group Reading" (1901.) Here Cassatt is actually painting the physical act of unfolding knowledge to an impressionable child. In his study of Cassatt's paintings and prints, Getlein notices the mother's instructive gestures through the way the “child looks with interest at the pages and 'learns' to hold the book by placing her hands over those of her mother� (Getlein, 118.) Yet Getlein does not take the next logical step in pointing out how Mary Cassatt directly places the role of a teacher in the hands of the mother through these gestures. By placing the child's hands in those of the mother's, Cassatt is able to show the responsibility and control a mother has and the infinite ways in which a mother can guide a child to success through education. It is through her paintings of mothers as honorable teachers, that Cassatt is able to publicize the credited role of a mother in bringing up well educated and cultured Parisian children. Through this connection, Cassatt proves women's intimate place in the lives of their children and their significant role as trusted mentors. This direct implication of mothers as educators is also seen in "Nurse Reading to a Little Girl" (1901.) Here the mother-figure as well holds the book of knowledge for the child. In this way, Cassatt's paintings redefine motherhood, assigning it the revered duty of enhancing the minds of society and giving it feminist power.