Examining good parenting practice will lead different people to different areas. For example, traditional parenting styles will be adopted within many families with sons and daughters carrying on the parenting styles of their parents and grand parents.

In this article, we will take somewhat of a nostalgic look at the world of the television parents... good parenting models which today, often receive criticism for being a little too far-fetched. But were they?

The television family shows of the 60's, 70's and even the 80's were based upon extolling good social values however, things have changed, and many of those good parenting values seem to have been lost in the landscape of human progress. Are "The Brady Bunch" a good parenting model for the 21st. century? What about "Leave It To Beaver..." are the same parenting principles practiced on that show applicable to society today. In a perfect world, the logical answer would be a resounding yes but alas, the logical conclusion would probably be no.

Let's take a look at some of the other shows which practiced good parenting values.

The Morality Of My Three Sons

Fred Mac Murray’s run as the patriarch of this TV family lasted twelve years (1960-1972) which would be a millennium by today’s TV standards. Fred’s repeated moral lessons provided a good parenting model for viewers to tune in to each week.

The Popular Patty Duke Show

Patty Duke played Patty Lane who could be best described as a precocious teenage daughter for three years 1963-1966. While most programs offered their symbols of good parenting in the form of a strong father or mother figure, this program reduced mom and dad to peripheral characters, letting Ms. Duke take the center stage instead.

The Laugh-A-Minute The Munsters

Are you serious? Yes I am... The Munsters! Led by big Herman and as oddball and esoteric as this show was, it was a tremendous send up and parody of the other ‘family shows’ that were the rage in the day. Why did it only last a mere two years on CBS? While dysfunctional on the surface, the Munsters had their act together as a family unit. What better example of good parenting can you offer other than that?

Examining The Many Loves of Dobey Gillis

Regarded as the male equivalent of The Patty Duke Show it featured a teenager who was the ‘brunt’ of good parenting following his numerous misadventures. And yes that is Gilligan himself, Bob Denver, as a member of the cast

The Revolutionary The Courtship of Eddy’s Father

This show was somewhat of a trailblazer.Bill Bixby played Eddy’s dad in this weekly series regarded as truly unique, not just in its brilliant examples of good parenting, but in the fact this was the first TV series to ever feature a single dad.

So what do you think? Do you believe society can return to the style of the good parenting values portrayed in the above television shows? Or were they a little far-fetched and out of touch with true reality. It would make for some interesting discussion.

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