Anne's children enjoy a happy, even idyllic childhood, spending much of their time playing and adventuring in a nearby hollow they name Rainbow Valley. Anne is a permissive mother who is never harsh on her children and does not object when they play hide-and-seek with the new minister's children in the cemetery. When a friend objects, Anne replies: "Why did they ever build that manse beside the graveyard in the first place?". Anne's children are often bullied by nasty children, requiring their mother to provide with much consolation. When Shirley reads about the theory of a Jocasta complex in one of her husband's medical journals together with a warning about mothers kissing their children, she says: "A man of course! No woman would ever write anything so silly and wicked". At one point, Anne tries to resume her writing career, publishing very poetical obituary for a neighbour that is mocked as an "obitchery" by an ignorant, rude newspaper editor, though it is well received by everyone else. Anne herself has a comfortable life, with a live-in maid (Susan Baker) who effectively runs the household and is also Shirley's primary caregiver after Anne falls ill giving birth to him. Upon recovering, Anne says: "I find I go on living". After Anne recovers, she is involved in various ladies' committees in town, and travels to Europe with Gilbert for an extended tour of the continent at one point, circa 1906.