Working Moms in Real Life Vs. Working Moms on TV
Even shows that aim to empower working moms still get so much wrong
TV is not real life — I get it. Most of my days would not make for particularly compelling television.
I doubt anyone wants to watch me comb my daughter’s hair, smile through Zoom meetings, make dentist appointments, fish spoons out of the garbage disposal, or bark at my kids to please, for the love of God, put away their shoes and hang up their jackets.
When I sit down with my husband and a glass of wine for my 30 minutes of “relaxing time,” I don’t necessarily want to watch a woman in sweatpants marching around a house that looks like it’s retching Legos and rice cake crumbs doing all of the decidedly unglamorous tasks that consumed my day.
The whole point of TV, as I understand it, is to temporarily remove yourself from your own reality and get caught up in someone else’s drama.
Admittedly, I’m no TV buff — I was allowed to watch two shows growing up: The Cosby Show and whatever came on after it (first Family Ties, then A Different World). I now allow myself a few shows a week, but I’m usually late to the party — by way of example, my husband and I are currently on Season 2 of The Good Wife.
My repertoire might be limited, but I do tend toward shows that feature parents, and particularly shows in which mothers are central characters, not just superficial sidekicks.
And here’s what I find time and time again: Even shows that explicitly aim to portray the struggles of modern parenthood, like Workin’ Moms and the aptly named Parenthood still fail — grossly fail — to validate my daily challenges. Not just mine, but millions of real-life moms and dads who are workin’ both inside and outside the home.
Exaggerated TV drama is one thing, but widely perpetuated false narratives about the realities of working motherhood are quite another. Take these all-too-common TV scenarios:
1. Parents have time to make breakfast
The “harried morning scene” is a TV classic — Dad stumbling down the stairs while buttoning his shirt, Mom frantically pulling a sweater over a child’s head, a teen hovering…