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In the case of The Good Wife’s Alicia Florrick, she decided that she couldn’t have all of these things all at the same time. It took the disappearance of her daughter (who was later found, safe), when Alicia feared that her work defending criminals may have endangered her children, that prompted her to make some changes in her life. Shaken because her daughter had gone to a seedy locale for the express purpose of getting baptized - Alicia had no idea about this -- Alicia decided to break up with her boyfriend (and boss) Will Gardner, and focus on family and work, no matter how lonely she was.

Lesson: Once you have kids, it’s kind of pathetic to try to pretend that you’re thoroughly hip and that you party all the time, like on a weekday night, especially if you a) have a baby who’s not yet sleeping through the night b) you’re chronically sleep-deprived and c) you have to go work early in the morning.

Chris and Reagan Brinkley from NBC’s Up All Night discovered this the hard way when they tried to pretend that they were as cool as their childless neighbors across the street. Bottom line: They weren’t.

Any lessons you gleaned from 2011’s TV parents?

Originally posted on ModernMom