When The Big Bang Theory Gets It Right

I love The Big Bang Theory, but sometimes the characters and stories are just too far out there to be believable. Seriously, does anyone know someone like Sheldon and actually *like* them? It’s difficult believing someone could be friends with him in real life. I’d have strangled him by now. But now and then the show does something that makes you say “yes, that’s happened to me.” And the most recent episode did that for me.

The mid-season finale ended with the birth of Bernadette and Howard’s daughter, and the winter premiere began not long after. When the gang asks how motherhood is going, Bernadette first replies that it’s great but then through flashbacks describes how awful it is in the first few weeks. She yells at the baby to sleep and asks why it hates her. She cries because she can’t get her daughter to stop crying when everyone else can. She believes she’s a bad mother.

Why does this hit so close to home? Well, three months ago I gave birth to twin girls. I knew I would have help in the form of my husband and the grandparents but still expected to hit some roadblocks. WELL. I didn’t know just how hard it was going to be. I found myself, just like Bernadette, yelling at them to stop crying. I was bawling in the middle of the night from lack of sleep. I actually thought I was a bad mother and that my girls hated me.

It’s hard for a mom to admit that she’s yelled at her child. I cried when I admitted it to my best friend, but you know what? She understood and admitted to doing the same thing when her daughter was born. Which is why it’s so so important to see that situation on television. It’s hard enough having those feelings and thinking you’re the only one, but to actually see it represented and getting others to understand makes it easier. My husband laughed when we were watching but then realized that was exactly what we had gone through. It was a sobering moment for both of us.

I’m not saying every mom goes through what Bernadette did. Maybe there are some really lucky parents out there. But I want to say THANK YOU to TBBT for depicting an event so accurately when the rest of the show feels like science fiction. Although to be honest, half of the show *is* sci-fi.

Catch The Big Bang Theory Thursday nights at 8/7c on CBS.