Monday, October 7, 2013

Instant Mom: Honesty is the Best Policy

Stephanie's point to Charlie that you lie to kids about things like Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy has always been a valid one. I've heard more than one person talk about how they won't be encouraging those images in their families because of fear that their children will then believe Jesus was fictional as well. However, lies quickly get out of hand, seen as both Stephanie and James have to keep adding to their stories in this episode. That, combined with the mature undertones in Charlie and Stephanie's discussion, really point out how not-for-kids this series is. And it's not even as if they let it go over the kids' heads... the children discuss what THEY think it meant! Not a dealbreaker, but definitely not a tick in the "pro" column, either.
Bonnie Osborne/Nickelodeon©2013 Viacom, International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Instant Mom "The Lying Game" (S01E02): It's Grandma Maggie's birthday, and she spent the night at the family's house, even waking up early to make pancakes. [I don't really understand WHY she spends so much time over there... is she lonely?] Aaron gives her a "turtle" rock, for her "collection," James gets her a life alert pendant on a chain, Gabby gets her a mani/pedi gift certificate from a cheap salon, and Stephanie and Charlie give her a tablet. [the kids had to spend their own money on gifts for their step-grandmother??] The tablet was so Maggie would stay busy at her own house, but as she doesn't have WiFi, she still spends quite a bit of time over there instead. [if they're already struggling to figure out how to keep her in the picture, that's a bad sign.] 

Stephanie is supposed to help Aaron's school with a roadside clean-up project, but when she feels over-run with parenting duties, Maggie tells her to just lie to Aaron and get out of it. [Maggie is kind of a terrible person, apparently.] She doesn't want to, but decides to pretend that she lost the house keys and can't leave because she can't lock the door. [MAGGIE IS THERE! Why didn't Aaron just ask Maggie to stay until they return??] She then lies to Gabby about a burned hand to get out of making a sandwich. When she lies to a solicitor, James catches her, so she has to tell him that lying is sometimes an act of kindness to get people through the day. [this is one of those "does this dress make my butt look big?" lies, and it's annoying.] He then lies at school about why he didn't do his homework, and when it's an outrageous stretch of the truth, he not only gets a lunch detention but Charlie and Stephanie are called to the school. James had ratted out Stephanie's rationalization about lying, so Charlie has a conversation with the family about being honest. Of course, Stephanie calls him out on dating lies, and the situation isn't actually fully resolved. [that WAS low of Stephanie. she really should have saved that for a private conversation.] 
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