r/malcolminthemiddle

When I first started watching this show, I was about 14 or 15. We were just fresh off shows like Full House, where gentle parenting was the portrayal of a beautiful, perfect, American family. Me being Latina, I could not relate less to the way Danny Tanner parented his daughters (side note, Marcello Hernandez touches up on this on his comedy special and it’s hilarious). Malcolm in the Middle felt real and it weirdly made me feel better about how everybody is just winging life. They portrayed realness in a funny, warm, relatable way, even if exaggerated.
Fast forward 26 years and I’m a mom of two AuDHD boys in USA. Dad is American. After watching the revival, I decided to do a rewatch on the OG, and man, has it been healing me in ways I’ve never expected. We are probably are closer to gentle parenting, but both husband and I are a little on the quirky, sarcastic side and say some outside of the lines stuff to match our kids’ energy. I personally have struggled greatly parenting kids on the spectrum and learning to come from a place of understanding and being okay with people judging us. The judgmental piece is something I still deal with regularly.
Now both my 12 year old and I have been watching the show together. Rewatching this family of most likely neurodivergent kids, and how their parents slowly but surely see themselves in them, humanize and portray life on the spectrum in a way that I don’t even know the writers meant to deliver. My son loves watching how outrageous they can get (he loves pushing limits) and I just love watching how people who don’t fit the perfect American mold lead their lives. This show was so ahead of its time and I’m so thankful for it for being able to entertain different generations for different reasons.

Did she work with Ritchie???