Pretty Little Liars Parenting: Fail!

Pretty Little Liars is one of my Must Watch television shows each week. It’s got a great mystery, maybe a few, fantastic acting, an excellent writing staff and incorporates some great music in each episode. The ‘A’ mystery is great material for weekly discussion around the water cooler. In fact there’s so much to spark discussions that it generally takes us through to the next week’s episode.

The topic of much discussion in my home: the parents. Last week’s summer premiere left me feeling so angry at these people, who must be the very last ones to judge “what is best” for their girls. I’ll break it down for you as I see it.

• Aria’s parents – Byron and Ella Montgomery should themselves be sent into counselling. He cheats on her with a student, then with an “I’m sorry” and a “that was all in the past”, all is forgiven. Really? It’s that simple? This isn’t a fling involving two people on their own, he was married with children, for pity’s sake! And Ella is so wrapped up in herself that she has no idea who her daughter even is. But now that Byron and Ella have put the past behind them and everything is hearts and love songs again, they turn their attention to Aria when she is in trouble. What do these two pillars of parental stability do? They allow Spencer’s mother to call the shots and not only send Aria to a grief counselor, but now they will take her friends away from her. The only people that really know Aria. This is their answer to their daughter’s problems. Not sitting her down and trying to talk with her and actually listen to her, let’s just cut her off from her friends, call her a liar and send her to a psych. Nice parenting.
• Spencer’s parents – Speaking of Mrs. Hastings, this woman deserves the Parent of the Year award for sure. She accuses Spencer of lying about Ian, forces her to see the grief counselor, forbids her from seeing Toby and now takes her friends away from her. She has isolated Spencer from friends and family. Neither Mrs. nor Mr. Hastings know a thing about their daughter, the life she lives or what she feels, and they don’t care as long as she brings home the stellar grades that reflect on the family name. Never mind the fact that their daughter was almost murdered like her friend, Allison. Winners!
• Emily’s parents – While Emily’s dad is more understanding of his daughter and willing to let her be who she is, unfortunately he is not around when she needs him the most. So it’s left to her mother, Nicole, to make the decisions on her own and I’m thinking she is a big zero. When Emily needs to talk with her mother about things that a daughter should be able to discuss with her mom, Nicole’s resolution is moving to Texas for a year. Yeah, that will fix everything. It will make Emily want to date boys, keep her from imagining a dead body in the church tower, and I’m so sure that Emily will open up to Nicole about everything in her life! And I have a bridge in London I’m trying to sell.
• Hannah’s Mother – Now here is a hot mess. She’s a thief and a pretty good liar herself, yet she is willing to just go right along with Mrs. Hastings’ solution to her daughter. I’m so impressed. Hannah was physically attacked, lost Caleb, lost Mona, and now she’s restricted from the three girls in her life that tether her to a small amount of sanity for her. The three who knew her at her worst and cared enough to stick with her. I’m stumped!

All four girls come from some pretty dysfunctional families. These parents leave a lot to be desired. It’s no wonder our girls don’t talk with them about ‘A’, or share the incriminating videos they are in possession of. It’s no surprise that Aria keeps Ezra a secret or that Hannah, Emily and Spencer don’t share one single thing in their lives with the Ps. Instead of trying to find out how the girls are dealing with life after Allison themselves, it’s just easier to ship them off to a grief counselor and let her fix them.  Maybe this way, if Ann fails with them, well, it’s not their fault.

Pretty Little Liars airs every Tuesday night at 8/7 central on  ABC Family.