Plenty of moms have graced our televisions over the years. They’ve come dressed in aprons and high heels, sporting ’70s bell-bottoms and towering blue hair. They’ve been doctors and housewives, witches, small business owners, and genius anthropologists but few have been as real, down-to-earth, and awesome as Tami Taylor (Connie Britton) on Friday Night Lights.
Tami was the kind of mom who supported you no matter what (even when you purposefully crashed your car in order to avoid going back to college), offering love and guidance. But beyond that, she was the TV mom we all hoped for growing up and here are a few times she proved that on the show.
When She Gave A Not-So-Cringeworthy Sex Talk
As awkward as everyone’s “first time” usually is, it has to be just as cringe-worthy for the parents explaining sex to their children. I mean, at least we get a couple of sex-ed classes in middle school to point us in the right direction. There’s no “Bird and the Bees” course for all those poor mom and dads out there fumbling their way through medical jargon, genital hygiene, and safe-sex demonstrations.
Luckily for Julie Taylor (Aimee Teegarden) she had a mom as understanding, sympathetic, and downright reasonable as Tami Taylor. Did Tami completely lose it when she suspected Julie might be giving it up to that lanky, stuttering QB1 Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford)? Sure, but instead of completely shutting down a productive, sex-positive conversation with her daughter and effectively ending any chance that Julie would ever come to her for help in that area again, she decided to actually parent and parent well, reminding Julie that she always had autonomy over her body and the right to say “no.”
When She Taught Her Husband Some Damn Manners
I don’t care if Colin Firth claimed it as his motto in The Kingsman series, everyone knows Southern moms are the reason the phrase “manners maketh the man” exists. After all, this is one of the most crucial directives in the Southern Mom Handbook – right up there with the secret to making a mean sweet tea and the correct pronunciation of “y’all.” Tami Taylor knows this, which is why she’s constantly reminding her angsty teenage daughter and boorish, football-loving husband how to act like a pair of actual human beings who weren’t raised in a barn. Such manners include the utterance of “please” and “thank you” when appropriate and taking your damn hat off at the dinner table. It’s not that hard but then again, one should never overestimate a middle-aged male’s capacity for common sense.
When She Was Good At Reading Between The Lines
The idyllic, swoon-worthy, Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler) could lead a bunch of sweaty, testosterone-crazed football players to a state championship, but he wasn’t always great when it came to reading between the lines with his family. Thankfully, Eric partnered with a strong, intuitive woman like Tami to pick up the slack when it came to their teenage daughter.
When Julie comes home from a date with Matt Saracen praising her parents for being their loving, supportive selves, Coach Taylor is content to simply lean back in his recliner and congratulate himself on his obvious awesomeness. His wife, a woman of exceptional intelligence and unparalleled experience reading her daughter’s unspoken thoughts and feelings, knows something prompted this out-of-character flattery and immediately resolves to get to the bottom of it. Thank God for moms like Tami Taylor. Without them, we’d all be drowning in pent up emotions or spending thousands of dollars a year in therapy bills.
When She Said What We’ve All Thought About Book Clubs
Let it never be said that Tami Taylor was a woman who didn’t speak her mind. Whether she was serving shade to the school board, the football donors, or her own husband, Tami was always ready to call it like she saw it no matter how many side-eyes she left in her wake. But her most iconic candid moment came when she voiced her opinions on that strangest of social rituals — the dreaded neighborhood book club. A bunch of women getting together to discuss Fifty Shades of Grey or whatever piece of literature they’ve all collectively agreed to read for a month is bizarre for many reasons. First, you’ll never convince me that a group of women just happened to share the same taste in books. Second, and this is what Tami Taylor took issue with when invited to her circle’s weekly meeting – who has the damn time? Between serving as guidance counselor for the local high school, rearing her rebellious teen daughter, and supporting her husband in all his coaching responsibilities, the only thing Tami Taylor had time for was a large glass of wine before bed every night. Alcohol comes before books. Period.
When She Was The Perfect Shoulder To Cry On
Tami Taylor was the best guidance counselor in Dillon, Texas for a reason. She knew when a student needed some tough love (like in the case of Tim Riggins skipping class constantly during his senior year) and when a student just needed an understanding shoulder to cry on or a silent wall off which to bounce life-changing decisions.
When Becky Sproles (Dora Madison Burge) found out she was pregnant after a fling with football player Luke Cafferty (Matt Lauria), she went to Tami for advice on what to do. Mrs. Taylor could’ve easily given her a judgmental spiel. Instead, she simply listened to Becky’s fears and concerns, offering her support and some words of wisdom to help the young teen get through one of the most difficult times in her life. Becky was worried she’d go to hell for having an abortion. She came to Tami, wanting to know what Mrs. Taylor, as a mother, would tell her daughter were she in the same position. Instead of a lecture, Tami gives Becky an unbiased, neutral opinion, saying she’d support her daughter no matter what and to think about what she wants out of life before making such a tough choice. Tami ended up losing her job because of that talk — the conservative school board members were a lot less understanding about the situation than Tami was — because she chose to do right by Becky by not injecting her own beliefs into the equation.
Tami didn’t approach the sensitive conversation as an educator, she came to Becky as a mother and a woman, one who understood what it was like to feel the pressures and judgments of living in a small town like Dillon. She gave Becky some heartfelt advice and she gave us another reason to view her as a great role model.
Really Anytime She Was There For Her Students
Becky wasn’t the only confused teenager who benefited from Tami Taylor’s sage advice. Tyra Collete (Adrianne Palicki) made a name for herself in Dillon as a troublemaker. She liked to hook up with multiple members of the football team, ditch class, and visit her sister at the strip club. It wasn’t until Tami Taylor took an interest in her that Tyra began to see her own potential, away from her small town and its negative influences. Not only did Tyra become a better person and hardworking scholar, she eventually went to college, breaking free from Dillon and the constraints of her family’s reputation. Honestly, most of the kids at Dillon High would probably be in jail, hooked on drugs, working at the Landing Strip, or a combination of those three if it hadn’t been for Tami Taylor.
