Although very little information is available to us about the upbringing of sultans' children, we learn from stories such as One Thousand and One Nights that it is obvious that mothers were extremely loving and protective of their children. Mothers were constantly trying to spare them from their fathers' punishments by hiding their mistakes. Mothers might even murder anyone who threatened the lives of their sons.

During the Ayyubid period, the mother of Nur al-Din helped her son escape the wrath of his father Al-Malik al-Adil, who swore to cut off his hands as a punishment for drinking alcohol.

Historians mention that Al-Khatun, the daughter of Baraka Khan, poisoned Prince Belbay when she overheard his plan to prevent her son from becoming Sultan of Egypt.

The mother of Sultan Al-Nasir Mohammad Ibn Qala'un is said to have escaped from the Egyptian territories with her son for fear of plots to get rid of him in order that another could take the throne.

Another example is that of Khawand Zeinab, daughter of Khasbak. She chose to leave the Citadel Palace and join her two sons, Al-Muayyad Ahmad and Mohammad, in prison. She nursed Ahmad until his death and then requested the permission of Sultan Khashqadam to take his body to Cairo to bury him next to his father Al-Ashraf Inal.

As for Khawand Aslabay, mother of Sultan Al-Nasir Mohammad Ibn Qaitbay, upon learning of a threat on her son's life from his uncle Konsowah, she made them vow loyalty to each other.

Another historical story is that of Anook, son of Sultan Al-Nasir Mohammad Ibn Qala'un. When Anook fell in love with a singer named Zahra, his mother, Khawand Toghay, helped him. When his father the Sultan found out, he vowed to kill Anook, but Al-Nasir Mohammad's wife, Khawand Toghay stopped him.

The great respect and privileges that women enjoyed at the time is repeated in several historical Mamluk sources.

An example of this great love is the amazing building Al-Ashraf Shaaban built in honor of his mother, Umm al-Sultan Shaaban.