Posted on 11/17/2008 12:17:58 PM PST by buccaneer81
‘Jon & Kate’ are doing their children no favors By Mark A. Perigard
TLC’s favorite fertile couple renews their vows tonight.
But this wedding may have some viewers raising objections.
As the episode opens, the Gosselin clan - parents Jon and Kate, twins Mady and Cara and the 4-year-old sextuplets - are vacationing in Maui.
The parents hammer out a renewal ceremony. The girls go for pedicures. Jon meets with relatives he hasn’t seen in several years.
Even by “Jon & Kate” standards, it makes for a slim show.
Why do the couple feel the urgent need to renew their vows after only nine years of marriage? Kate tells the camera that she wants her kids to know that while not all moms and dads stay together, she and Jon are forever.
As the ceremony later demonstrates, not even the oldest girls understand the ceremony’s significance, and the youngest surely will forget it.
This cynic is forced to conclude the “wedding event” is a way to capitalize on a free vacation in Maui.
“Jon & Kate” has become increasingly about the freebies the Pennsylvania family can gather. The visits to increasingly far-flung destinations are nothing more than travel infomercials, with the kids as adorable props. Jon’s morning on a golf course here is a chore to the eyes, but he dutifully plugs the management in his armchair confessional.
If we’re rewarding people on the basis of fertility, shouldn’t the prizes go to the least blessed?
Yes, it’s kind of horrible the way Kate talks to Jon as if he’s one of the 4-year-olds.
As he samples wedding cakes tonight, Kate tells the wedding planner, “I’ll try what he decides. And then I’ll argue, if he decides wrong.”
But as my favorite relationship coach - that would be Judge Judy - would say, he picked her. Save your concern for the children.
Mady, for example, almost has a meltdown when her mother expects her to be her maid of honor. Is she just another reality show witch? No, she’s just an 8-year-old, having a perfectly normal moment for a child - that is being broadcast to millions of homes.
The younger kids have been trailed by cameras for almost their entire lives. What does that do to a child’s perception of the world and his or her importance in it?
The kids might not mind the cameras following them now, but they’ll probably feel differently in about 10 years when their high school classmates can download footage of their potty training to their iPods.
Imagine having all your worst moments from childhood available to anyone who wanted to see them for the rest of your life.
That’s what the Gosselin children face.
Maybe it’s time for Jon and Kate to drive the cameras out of the home for some quality family time.
I watch Big World Little People. I especially loved the episode when Matt went to Iraq. It showed how much the people of Iraq respect our troops that interact with them.
I think everyone should see it.
I agree. I love the show. With all the awful stuff on TV this is a highlight for me. Jon and Kate admit they are far from perfect. While I admit, Jon is definitely the patient type, he appreciates that she takes the lead in the care of the children and organizing the household. Maybe it’s just me, but I see a lot of the back and forth between them as good-natured and harmless. My husband and I must raise eyebrows too, we love to trade barbs and take it all with humor.
I like the Little People show, too. Those of you who can’t take people being humans and not perfect, turn the channel—
Matt’s business sense seems to be very lacking and it showed this year on the house remodel. 7 months in 2 rooms? Something is very wrong somewhere. A lot of these shows just don’t add up money wise.
Gladly. Domestic violence is not entertainment.
That's way too generous
I predict one day Jon WILL take a walk. It'll be "Kate plus 8 and a carton of Haagen-Dazs in front of the TV."
Then again, the producers could be editing the show to make it look like they're miserable.
Oh please, there is no domestic violence on the show.
I am really perplexed at all the PC comments on this thread.
See my post # 59.
Did they take the kids?
n=new
I read it. That is one of the posts to which I was commenting. Have you watched the show?
He can't. Child support for eight is a terrifying prospect even for a millionaire.
Unfortunately, I have. That woman is a witch. I've seen her badmouth Jon to the kids, too.
If Kate and Kids continued with the show, maybe they’d pay HIM alimony.
What????? You watch strangers who live their lives in front of a camera? What is wrong with this picture?
This is not just to you, but I can’t help but think of all the Sarah Palin bashing that got everyone so upset here.
Now it seems as though many are willing to bash this family.
I really am surprised. I can understand that not everyone has the same tastes, but some of these comments seem very judgmental and unfair.
My wife is the main culprit. I'm sometimes on the computer in the family room where the big TV is.
Comparing this bunch to the Palins is going way beyond the pale.
One could only hope. But I wouldn't bet on it.
I am comparing the “pile-on” mentality. I am not comparing Sarah Palin and her family to the Gosselins. Surely you can see the point I am going for?
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