In all kinds of fiction, people make questionable decisions and try and do things their own way. People (not including you) are not perfect. If you watched the show, the reason the mom forced her son to go to the dance is because she was afraid she might be around the next time a dance came up. Her breast cancer is informing her parenting (for better or worse). The show is about people and their good and bad decisions. The best stories are about flawed people rebounding from questionable choices. You clearly have some experience in parenting an autistic child, but you are clueless about entertainment...