Cameron Tucker is one of the most complex characters in Modern Family. As outgoing and theatrical as he is, he's also quite insecure and can cause conflict when he's bitter or envious. Cam doesn't like to feel left out or as if his opinion doesn't matter, so he tries to implement his point of view whenever it's called for — or even when it's not.
As a father to Lily and Rexford and a husband to Mitchell, Cam has dished out words of wisdom that have often been helpful. However, he isn't always in the right headspace to give advice...
Best: Lily's Time of The Month
In "Red Alert," Cameron is thrown off when his daughter gets her period for the first time. Throughout the series, Mitch and Cam have faced challenges in raising their little girl. Some girls are only comfortable talking about certain issues with other women.
Cam did the best he can to make Lily feel at home and normal in a house full of men. He reminded her that while he and Mitchell don't have the same body as she does, they still went through bodily changes as well and that there was nothing to be embarrassed about.
Worst: Judging Other Parents
Cam and Mitch are two of the most judgmental characters on Modern Family. With a colorful group of friends, they can't help themselves but judge their family and friends when it comes to raising kids. However, Cam took it too far when they tried giving advice to Pepper and Ronaldo.
Pepper and Ronaldo adopted a young boy named Lionel and quickly forced their lifestyles down his throat. While Lionel seemed happy, Cam thought they were influencing Lionel to be someone he wasn't. He advised his friends to let Lionel be his true self without ever asking Lionel what he thought of it. In reality, Lionel loved his life with his adopted dads and didn't need Cam's advice.
Best: Man Vs. Pigeon
Cameron is the protector of the family. As theatrical and emotional as he can be, he doesn't let anything or anyone hurt his husband or daughter. This was proven when Mitchell heard a voice coming through the baby monitor and Cam sprung into action to save the day.
Cam did this again when Mitch was home alone with Lily and a pigeon flew into the house. Mitchell was terrified of pigeons and didn't know what to do, so he called Cam for backup. Cameron reminded Mitch that the pigeon was more afraid of him than he was of it. Mitch eventually got the bird out of the house unscathed — even if he smashed up the house while doing it.
Worst: The Promposal No One Wanted
One of Cameron's biggest flaws is assisting with something where he's not needed. He gets so excited over other people's projects that he can't help but include himself.
In "Promposal," Cam forced Manny to let him help plan his promposal. Sadly, he was too over-the-top and turned it into a competition with Luke and Mitch. Manny didn't really want Cameron's advice on how to "propose" for prom but he didn't have a choice.
Best: How To Win Over A Crush
As uncomfortable as puberty conversations can be, Mitch and Cam tried their best with Lily. In "Blasts From The Past," Mitch and Cam found a Playgirl magazine in Lily's room and decided to openly confront her over what she saw instead of sweeping it under the rug. Cam gave her excellent advice about embracing her curiosity. Later in "Daddy Issues," Mitch and Cam crashed Lily's sleepover where they gave some spot-on dating advice. The girls asked Cam what to text a crush and his G-rated advice worked. It was a sweet bonding moment.
Worst: Lily's Musical Talents
When Lily had a talent show, Cameron trained her to win. Unfortunately for him, Lily didn't have the same love for singing and dancing that he did. Instead of finding a song that worked well for her voice and made her happy doing it, Cam decided to steal the show. He sang and played the piano while Lily did karate moves and screamed "Hiya!" during the song"Kung Fu Fighting." In this particular scene, Cam's advice was for her to give up and let him take charge.
Best: His Business Advice For Gloria
Gloria knew her family's hot sauce recipe was special but needed some encouragement to make it happen. Cameron loved Gloria's sauce and the idea of starting something that was all their own.
However, all of his planning and advice were self-serving. He took too much control and forgot that it was primarily Gloria's business. The direction he wanted to go in was different than Gloria's direction and the two bumped heads. She fired him from the business for his shifty advice but remained loving friends. At the end of the day, though Cam had to be saved from himself, his initial advice to Gloria was sound.
Worst: How To Flirt
Cameron goes above and beyond to make things comfortable for Lily as the only girl in the house. However, he went a little too far when she told him she had a crush on the boy who was renting the apartment upstairs. Cameron assumed she was referring to the young boy her age but she was actually referring to the young boy's dad. Lily began flirting with the older gentleman, which, needless to say, was inappropriate. Cameron had no choice but to pull Lily aside and tell her that he gave her bad advice. His heart was in the right place, but he should have gotten the whole picture.
Best: Confidence
Cameron has his insecure moments, but who doesn't? He is also very confident and tries to share the sentiment with Lily. When Lily got older, she had some self-confidence issues but Cam nipped that in the bud.
"Being comfortable in your skin is the most attractive thing," he told her. To prove that beauty isn't just what's on the outside, Cam and Mitch showed off their bodies at a pool party where Lily got to see first hand that her dads meant what they said.
Worst: Lily's Body Issues
Continuing on Cameron's advice as a father, both he and Mitch weren't prepared when Lily began to develop and wanted a bra. She was too embarrassed to ask for it, so she stole one instead. Cam and Mitch thought Lily was just acting out instead of taking her actions seriously and seeing the bigger problem. Lily didn't steal a bra to be funny, she stole it because she needed one.
Instead of giving Lily the advice and guidance she needed, Cam grounded her. Of course, things changed when Cam dug a little deeper into the issue but it's a classic Cam move to react before asking questions first.