Favorite Moms on Television

Growing up in the UK, our family watched a lot of imported American TV shows, it was pure escapism for us. As a kid I was always enthralled with the American TV families and their lifestyles, with homes that were always so clean, tidy and stylish and beautiful, perfect moms that always had it together and looked great. I guess that had a strong influence on me and I grew up always wanting to be that kind of mom when it was my turn to have a family. .

As long as I can remember I have loved watching 'The Waltons' and always wanted to be part of their large extended 'family' when I was a child. Just thinking about the theme tune to that show makes me very sentimental. I loved the way the family was so bonded to each other, so loving and always working together as a team, with mom and dad at the helm leading the way. Olivia Walton was everything to me that I thought a mother should be. She was practical, calm in a crisis, beautiful and always had time for her many children.

Carolyn Ingall's in the 'Little House on the Prairie' also exuded this kind of calmness and can do attitude. Forever patient, with solid, loving advice for a bewildered child, I was unconsciously tucking away these nuggets of what a perfect mother should be, so that when my time came, I would be ready and could be just like them.

Marion Cunningham on 'Happy Days' was a little more scatterbrained as a mother figure but still a very loving mother and adored by her family. Her family was her life. She kept a perfect home and dinner was on the table on time every night. The perfect 1950's housewife.

As I grew up, moved to America and got married, I didn't watch those old shows so much anymore, although I looked back on them with affection. I had my first child in the late 90's and related very much to Jamie Buchanan in the show 'Mad about You'; a show about young, educated newly wed professionals embarking on a life together. Towards the end of the show's run, Jamie became a first time mom, just as I did. I was enthralled by the show as so much of what they went through, I went through too with a newborn, this mom was smart and educated but sometimes unsure of herself and her abilities in her new role as parent. I absolutely related to that and loved the show so much I went to see a taping of the show in Culver City, it was a delight.

As the years have gone by, I have become an experienced, harried mother of three active growing youngsters. I now appreciate the comedic realism of 'Malcolm in the Middle's' stressed out mother of five, Lois. So far away from the picture perfect family's of The Walton's and Little House on the Prairie but so much more relatable to me with my current life of young boys terrorizing each other and me! Maybe she's not a perfect mom (who is) but she loves her kids to death and would defend them like a grizzly bear if necessary. This show makes me laugh out loud and Lois is probably a very realistic representation of many Middle American moms today; over worked and under appreciated! This show is a far cry from the TV families that I adored as a youngster but much more relatable to my current life now that I'm a mom. I do though still occasionally sneak in some nostalgia and watch the old Walton family reruns for a break from reality, which we harried moms need every once in a while!