Brady Bunch

I hate the Brady Bunch. The Brady Bunch provides an unrealistic view of what step-parenting is all about. Mr. Brady’s wife died. Mrs. Brady got a divorce. And all the kids love and respect both parents, all their siblings, Alice, and never behave badly.  I hate the Brady Bunch.

If the Brady Bunch were real this is what would happen:

    a.       The kids would all demand their own rooms and anyone who had to share would be irate about it all the time.

    b.      They would need more than just one bathroom for the 6 kids.

    c.       1 TV for the whole family would be cause for riot.

    d.      The boys would be surly and disrespectful to everyone, especially this woman who wants to take their Mom’s spot in their life.

    e.      The girls would behave similarly toward Mr. Brady.

    f.        At least one of the kids would be in counseling for something.

g.       The rest would need it.

h.      The kids would call the other parent by their first name…not Mom or Dad.

i.         At some point someone would yell “You’re not my Mom/Dad!” at the top of their lungs and run away.

j.        There would be infighting and challenging of roles by several (if not all) of the children.

k.       Mrs. Brady and Alice would be jockeying for superior position in Mr. Brady’s life.

l.         At some point one or both of these parents would say to themselves “Is this really worth it?”

So I hate the Brady Bunch. What I hate more about the Brady Bunch is that R has started to say things like “Mrs. Brady never loved her daughters more than her sons.” “Mrs. Brady didn’t think of them as your kids and my kids.”

Yeah, well Mrs. Brady also ended up with a full time housekeeper. She also lived in happy land where everyone got along and no one had to deal with a psycho ex-spouse who got the kids most of the time and was able to brainwash them constantly to hate the other parent and new step parent. The kids were not conniving, lying, spying, stealing brats who took everything that was not nailed down to the other parent’s house. Mrs. Brady didn’t have to deal with someone asking all the time to take them shopping, to the movies, for pedicures, to the amusement park, buy them this that and the other thing, etc. etc. etc. Neither of them had to deal with a idiot kid who couldn’t shut his/her mouth for more than 10 seconds.

Awww…the two oldest want to see who’s the better driver? Golly…that sounds like a problem!

I hate the Brady Bunch. And I hate Sherwood Schwartz for inventing it. (My hatred is dulled to dislike to account for Gilligan’s Island though.)