To start, here is a quick biography on the characters and premise of ‘Modern Family’; the show, set in present-day, and centers on the daily life of a modern family. A patriarch, Jay, marries a Columbian trophy wife, Gloria, with a perky bosom and a child from a previous marriage, Manny, who is a 40-year-old gentleman in a 14-year-old’s body. Jay has two children, Mitchell and Claire, who are each married with their own children. Mitchell is a tightly wound, overly sarcastic lawyer who is planning a wedding with his long-time partner Cameron, an overly dramatic farm boy. Mitchell and Cameron have a daughter named Lily who they adopted overseas. Claire married a goofy, kind-hearted real estate agent, Phil, and they have three children- Haley (the pretty one), Alex (the smart one), and Luke (the dumb one).

In this particular episode, Mitchell and Cameron ask Claire to pick up Lily from school and do not tell her that Lily’s school sent an email to parents about a lice outbreak in her class. Claire picks up Lily from school and is itching soon after with a lice infestation.

Now that we know the cast and the basic premise of the episode, let’s discuss the inconsistencies within:

1.Mitchell notifies Cam of the lice outbreak email and the first thing Cam does is accuse the “filthy” girl in Lily’s class, Portia, of being the source of the infestation. DEAR PARENTS, HEAD LICE CAN NOT ONLY INFEST BOTH CLEAN AND DIRTY HAIR, BUT THEY PREFER CLEAN HAIR TO DIRTY HAIR! Anyone can get head lice and to blame the “filthy” Portia is not only mean, but inaccurate as a definite source.

2.During the above conversation, Cam and Mitchell debate telling Claire to warn her about picking up Lily from school and Cam says they should not because Claire has “a 1% chance of catching it, but a 100% chance” the news would freak her out. Not only is this information inaccurate, but it is also one of the BIGGEST reasons that head lice is such a big problem. If the infestation is not made known to those coming into contact with a lice filled child, it will only continue to cycle.

3. Following the selfie, Claire attends a meeting with Mitchell and a potential client. While Claire is in the meeting, Mitchell receives a call from Cameron telling him that Lily does in fact have head lice. Cam and Mitch debate once again whether or not to tell Claire about Lily’s lice and Mitchell sees Claire come out from under a desk having obviously itched her scalp a lot. Now, head lice cause itching in only 50% of active cases and the itching comes as a reaction to the saliva a louse excretes while laying her eggs. Those that experience the itching will most likely notice the itchy feeling after having lice for almost 2 weeks! Claire was itching only hours after contact with Lily.

Here are the things done right:

1. The school actually sent a notice to parents when there was a lice outbreak in class. Not many schools will do this and it is so damaging to every child in the school! Some schools do not even notify teachers of positive head lice cases within their classroom! Without clearing all cases of head lice within the school, there will always be head lice within the school. It’s a hugely smart and proactive administrative move to notify the class!

2. The way Claire gets head lice (with no regards to the inaccuracy following) is VERY probable. With no context, the episode clearly shows Claire taking a ‘selfie’ with Lily with her hair clearly draped over Lily’s. Head lice transfer by head-to-head contact 98% of the time; they cannot jump or fly so, besides a 2% transfer percentage from bedding, hair ties, and the like, they transfer from strand to strand, quickly, when a new environment is presented to them. Lily’s head of hair could definitely have transferred head lice to Claire’s.

3. Following Cameron’s call to Mitchell telling him Lily had lice, Mitchell walks into the office where Claire is sitting head-to-head with the client looking through a magazine and he quickly slides the man’s chair away from Claire and discreetly tells her she has lice. The client leaves quickly and comes back in only to give Claire an unstoppable hug while she and Mitchell look at each other knowingly. This is ‘Modern Family’s’ second accurate portrayal of a head lice transfer.

4. In the last minute of the episode, Phil sends an untreated Lily to get a piggy-back ride to his arch-rival in trying to give him head lice. Again, this is their third and last correct representation of head lice treatment.

In conclusion, ‘Modern Family’ is one fantastically funny and entertaining show on television, there is little doubt about that (rating-wise that is), but with how many people watch ‘Modern Family’ you’d think they could at least fact check their head lice episode by someone or anyone who knew anything about head lice before filming the episode. Cam’s interactions with Lily are priceless and the head-to-head contact is all very realistic and factual, but to have Claire itching a few hours after getting head lice? C’mon, fact check people. Let’s use these great actors to actually teach something to the public about head lice.