Parenting in public : 'watching the directives'

Is there anything to be learned about the state of contemporary parenting by watching TV? We think so. Saying that you actually watch TV at all is more of a confession than a statement for good card-carrying academics like ourselves. The cultural script that those of our ilk are meant to trot out with a dismissive half-sneer of superiority is, 'We don't watch television', or conferring more gravitas still, 'We don't have a television'. Humbug. If you want to know something of the current culture you're living in, turn on, tune in or drop out of a big part of understanding it. Even for keen, if occasional, TV watchers, the broad genre of reality TV can be unwatchable, from the wretched narcissism of Big Brother, through the awkward self-consciousness of The Biggest Loser, to the aspirational vacuity of endless decorating/renovating shows. No wonder the latter evoked Maureen Lipman's exquisite observation, 'I can't believe it, I'm actually watching paint dry'.