Meghan Prisby
Nov 4 · 3 min read

Do Middle Class Parents Really Support Their Children?

When it comes to parents, there are many different stereotypes from dismissing their children to the nanny to completing disregarding their children’s existence. Although, some of these stereotypes are in our society today they are misrepresenting how most parents take care of their children. These stereotypes don’t end with the upper and lower classes. Media continues to falsify the way middle class parents raise their children. In Modern Family viewers follow the lives of the middle class Humpery, Pritchett, and Tucker-Pritchett families as they navigate their different family dynamics of nuclear, step-, and same-sex. Modern Family gives viewers an unrealistic idea of what middle class families should look like, while reinforcing stereotypes about helicopter middle class parents.

In the episode “Career Day”, Phil, a realtor and father of three, is extremely excited to attend his son’s, Luke, career day at school. Phil takes hours to create an interactive video to entertain Luke’s classmates. Phil goes so far that he incorporates props for students to play with. Phil is a perfect depiction of media’s version of a middle class parent. Phil is shown as over involved in his child’s life. He is doing everything in his power to make Luke’s career day memorable. Phil is doing his best to be there for his son and not let him down.

Later in the episode, Cam and Mitch, a gay couple, try to keep their daughter’s, Lily, tooth fairy fatasy alive. Lily loses her first tooth. As soon as Cam and Mitch find out there are thrilled and tell her to place the tooth under her pillow, so she will receive money from the tooth fairy. In the middle of the night, Cam and Mitch are seen sneaking into Lily’s room trying to leave money under her pillow. Lily’s shoots up out of bed and shines a flashlight on her dads. She explains to them that she is trying to catch the tooth fairy. To keep her belief in the story, Mitch tells Lily that they were just checking to see if the tooth fairy had come. Mitch and Cam are supporting their daughter’s hope in the fictional character. They are making sure their daughter has a perfect life and can believe in any fairytale.

Additionally, Claire, Luke’s mom, also participates in career day. However, her career is a stay-at-home mom. Claire describes her life and how she changed her children’s diapers, drove them around, made them food and did everything else in between. Claire explains how involved she is in her children’s lives. She describes her over protectiveness of trying to keep her children safe. Claire is super involved in her children’s lives.

In conclusion, Modern Family is a negative piece of media because it reinforces the stereotype that middle class parents are super involved in their children’s lives. Viewers may assume that children in middle class families always have parents who support them when they may not. This brings us further into the cave because middle class kids may not get the support they need due to the stereotype that they have over involved parents.