Love, Laughter, and Gilmore Girls:: The Show that Strengthened a Mother-Daughter Bond

Gilmore Girls is more than just a television show for my daughter and me. When we were drifting apart in the midst of the teen years, this quirky drama brought us back together.

Love, Laughter, and Gilmore Girls:: The Show that Strengthened a Mother-Daughter Bond

When I joined Houston Moms Blog four years ago, all of my children were still in elementary school. My days were filled with having lunch with them at school, volunteering to chaperone field trips, and serving on different school committees. My favorite part of the day was waiting for them at the corner of our street and listening to them tell me about their day as we walked home.

Nowadays, I’m finding myself embarking on a new stage of parenthood as my four eldest kids are entering their teen years {ages 14, 12, 11, 10}. I had to dial back the super active school-mom notch a bit to give them space and a chance to be themselves without mom befriending every teacher and friend’s mom in sight. 

Times Change

The once exuberant children who couldn’t wait to tell me about their day now leave me hanging with a simple, “School was good.” Then they head to the kitchen to get a snack and retreat to their quiet spaces. I read somewhere that I should ask them to tell me one thing that they did at school instead of “How was your day?” to avoid getting responses like that. My 11 year-old said, “I ate lunch today.” okayyyyyy.

I think the biggest change that I’ve seen is in my eldest. She has been in her room a lot and is always emotional about Hot Cheetos {who ate her Cheetos, why there weren’t Hot Cheetos in the house, who bought the wrong type of Hot Cheetos, etc}. She cringes when I try to talk to her about topics that she doesn’t want to talk about and I have to yell for her to come downstairs because I hadn’t seen her all day. I miss the days when the kids would talk and talk about anything and everything. I feel like they are slipping away from me, and I don’t want the gap to widen as they become full blown teenagers.

An Invitation for Connection

One day after I had gotten home from work, my daughter told me she had found the show Gilmore Girls on Netflix. I never watched it growing up since I was more  a Friends type of gal. So I casually suggested that we should watch it together. My daughter enthusiastically agreed, much to my surprise. We popped popcorn, I had my coffee, and we laid in my bed and watched our first episode together. We talked about how Alexis Bledel went to the school that my husband taught at and were shocked to find Melissa McCarthey on the show. We both loved the music references, and we agreed on how they don’t make shows like that anymore. We laughed at the ridiculous amount of food Lorelai and Rory ordered at Luke’s every day, how insansely fast Lorelai speaks without having to take a breath, and we laughed at how weird it was that we loved it all so much.

We were HOOKED! Many hours followed with us watching episodes back to back until our brains were numb. Did you know that there are 153 episodes of Gilmore Girls? We watched almost a whole season in that one week and it was the highlight of our day. She would rush to complete her homework after school and I would make dinner early. The hubby and the other kids were left to entertain themselves while we binged watched our Gilmore Girls. The show brought up topics for us to talk about like teenage pregnancy, dealing with mean girls, real friendship, gossiping, dating, and sex. We would talk about the show and the topics came naturally without making either of us cringe. I told my daughter that I wanted us to have the same type of relationship that Lorelai and Rory has,. That we would be each other’s best friend and never be afraid to share the stuff that is going on in our life. And you know what?! My daughter wanted the same thing!      

The Gilmore Girls Connection  

We are currently in the middle of season 6 and Rory is off to college {and making some bad life choices}. I’m so thankful for having Gilmore Girls in our life. It was exactly what my daughter and I both needed for our special time together, free of little brothers and baby sister. My daughter knows that I love her but this show has affirmed our mother-daughter relationship by emphasizing how we can always talk about life and that making mistakes will never change how I feel about her. It has made us stronger and I think the timing is perfect with her entering high school next year. Perhaps I will introduce her to Friends in a couple of years before she is off to college. But for now, I’m happy that this TV show has open new doors to our relationship.      


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Christine N
Christine was raised in Houston almost all her life, but currently resides in Sugar Land with her family. She graduated with a teaching degree from the University of Houston and taught elementary school for eight wonderful years.  She met her husband Martin while they both were teaching CCE at a local parish.  Together they have five beautiful children Madison {September 2005}, Caden {April 2007}, Cohen {April 2008}, Mason {August 2009}, and Anna-Marie {November 2016}.  Christine is also a self-taught baker, cake designer, and owner of The Sweet Boutique Bakery.  In 2016, her family felt a huge calling to open up their hearts and home to fostering babies.  When Christine isn’t juggling work, being an active school mom, or caring for her foster baby, you will find her creating DIY home projects, crafting, party planning, baking with her kids, and traveling with her family.  You can read more of her family shenanigans on The Sweet Boutique's Blog.

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