Mad Men Provides Lessons on How to Not Parent a Child

This isn't a problem for me because I get all of my parenting advice from Futurama. Anyway, Elizabeth Lindell of Mom Logic writes that the AMC show Mad Men gives exceptionally bad examples of parenting:

Don and Betty Draper's parenting mistakes must be obvious to any generation. Their children ride without seatbelts, play in dry-cleaning bags and were told of their parents' divorce in a scene devoid of any real comfort or empathy. Their young daughter, Sally, can mix a Tom Collins like a pro. There is little nurturing by either parent -- except when one of the adults needs it.

This week, it was Thanksgiving for the Drapers. Newly divorced Betty spent it with her new beau in the home she shares with her children, and Don spent it having sex with a prostitute. While Betty is cuddling up with her new man in the bed she previously shared with her children's father, her daughter is distraught in the hall and attempts to make a call to her father because she misses him. Betty reprimands her, sends her to bed and goes back to her foreplay.

It's not Betty's moving on that I have a problem with. It's the lack of explanation to the children and the Drapers' lack of understanding of the turmoil their actions will cause for years to come.

Link | Image: AMC