'Modern Family's' Light Take on Doubts of an At-Home Mom

Typically, when the subject of a mom working or not working or working part-time or taking some kind of "mommy track," etc. crops up, there's a tendency for some people to get judgmental and mean. And when TV programs have tackled the topic, it's frequently done with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

This is why I fell in love with Modern Family's recent episode, "Moon Landing," which featured Claire Dunphy (Julie Bowen), the at-home mom of three, feeling a bit shaken when she went to wine-fueled lunch with a former colleague of hers (Minnie Driver) who successfully climbed the corporate ladder and seemed to lead a glamorous life as compared to Claire's. In response to hearing about her friend's four lovers in different cities and her major work promotion, Claire mumbled, "Last night I vacuumed the radiator thingie, under the fridge, you know that collects the dust, because you should, and, I don’t."

My Mommy Tracked Pop Culture column this week gives some major kudos to Modern Family for bringing humor to an issue that can oftentimes be treated super-seriously.

Image credit: Mitch Haddad/ABC.