Throughout life, parents and teachers tell children not to waste  time watching television, but some TV shows have valuable lessons that parents and teachers can’t share.

“Good Luck Charlie” originally aired on the Disney Channel April 4, 2010, and ran until February 16, 2014. The family featured in the show was made up of Amy and Bob Duncan and their children: PJ, Teddy and Gabe, who have settled into being a family before the youngest siblings – Charlotte, also known as Charlie, and Toby – enter the scene.

While this show is considered a comedy, the show also teaches the audience through Teddy making videos to teach life lesson to her little sister. Not only do those lessons apply to Charlie, but they also taught the audience about school and relationships.

Although the show has not been aired in over three years, Armijo students Sebastian Decker and Daunte Robinson said that they had both heard of the show and liked it.

“The Fosters” is another show that has taught good lessons to its viewing audience. It has been around for five years and is still on air, but can also be seen on freefrom on TV and on the app. A lesbian couple, Stef and Lena Adams Foster blend their family with biological, adopted and foster children, helping to redefine what a “traditional” family looks like.

This series, teaches many lessons, not only about families but also about the situations that adopted and foster children find themselves. This was one show that neither Robinson nor Decker were familiar with, but it has its own following and continues to draw critical acclaim in its current season.

In many ways, television families tell us that there are many ways to be a family- and no matter life’s conundrums, we find ourselves together at the end of each episode.