<p>bookiemom, I think you are right, but man that divorce will be messy!</p>
<p>Does anyone remember that First TV Family- the first ‘reality family’ that is, anyways, the LOUD family. The parents separated and I think divorced during the show. </p>
<p>I doubt it is the pressure of the shows that does this to a family (or really any external factor). I think rather the same narcissistic personality that brings an adult to feel the world wants to know about their tummy tuck is ultimately incompatible with family and married life.</p>
<p>The woman is off her rocker, no doubt. The crayola episode was just too much but the pottery painting place was even nuttier. No one could sit next to each other lest they get paint on them. As for the children, at least one or two are going to have learning problems… or other issues, no doubt.</p>
<p>Something makes me want to say</p>
<p>NO WIRE HANGERS!!!</p>
<p>I can see dressing alike. It’s like a uniform,no choice. Can you imagine the chaos everyday when all the kids have a choice of what they’d like to wear? It’ll take all day.</p>
<p>I have to agree that, to some degree, matching makes keeping track of multiples easier when out and about. But by a certain age, there can be coordinating outfits and not identical matches. The kids need to be able to have a little choice in life, and a chance to have self expression. They can’t use crayons, they can’t paint. God forbid they get silly and messy with finger paints. The absolute matching all the time is just too rigid after all these years. Such rigid lives these kids lead. And they don’t really know any different, espeically the 6–they never get to interact with any other kids besides “themselves.” </p>
<p>I think that when these kids are teens, there is gonna be a lot of acting out. Yikes. They are going to rebel against having to conform in every way possible. They are 5 now already. And still have to always match. Always.</p>
<p>While I was waiting in line at the supermarket this morning, I read the J&K article in US magazine. Apparently it was Kate’s brother that blew the whistle about the 3 month affair. Kate’s brother is Aunt Jody’s husband - the one’s that Kate shut out of their lives. There were multiple pictures of Jon and girlfriend and about how Jon & Kate’s house is so orderly - the only thing the reporter noticed was 18 shoes all lined up - no signs of 8 kids living in the house. Another thing the article mentioned is that Jon lives in an apartment above the house and that Kate doesn’t seem too upset about these developments. I don’t know how much of this is true, but Kate seems like an Ice Queen and a control freak.</p>
<p>RE: Matching outfits</p>
<p>As an only child it always amused me when my friends went out with their sibs. One girlfriend, the oldest of 6 (father was a pediatrician) used to cringe when they went out to amusement parks and the like. Their mother bought the loudest, ugliest matching t-shirts (I remember the neon lime green one she was forced to wear to Disneyland) so that they could be seen from Adventureland (with a straight line of sight) to Tomorrowland). </p>
<p>They never lost a single kid.</p>
<p>If the cheating rumors are true, which I doubt:</p>
<p>I’ve never believed that one person is responsible for their spouse cheating, but dear god, the way she treats the man…I would have hanged myself in the same situation. It really is all her fault.</p>
<p>I plead innocent to watching this show. I have watched promos for it and maybe 10 minutes total while channeling surfing. HOWEVER, I have never seen such vitriole for this wife, the family and the organization that it must take to get a family like that going. (My crib/clothes/bed are better/prettier than yours!)</p>
<p>Incidentally, the first family to ever “exploit” their large brood? Read the book, Cheaper By the Dozen. The father, last name Gilbraith, was a time management consultant who 1)ran the family like an army (whistling for fire alarms, assembly etc.) 2)did movies (without paying the kids anything) displaying their talents (he came up with the touch typing system. Showed his daughters typing quickly, sans the knock on the top of the head for missing the correct key…am NOT condoning the last at all), and took his kids out on display in matching clothes with their bright red hair.</p>
<p>And, (since this was a favorite book from my childhood) when did this exploitation occur? In the 1930s. So our fascination/repulsion didn’t start with reality TV. Someone be it advertisers, manufacturers whatever are paying them. People are, obviously, watching them. (Oh, and as I recall from the book, the family, who lived in New Jersey…Montpelier I believe…grew up just fine.)</p>
<p>(And no…I wouldn’t put my family on TV. I turned down a reality show for my daughter. So, we’ll just say I know the industry just a little.)</p>
<p>Frank and Lillian Gilbreth. Montclair.</p>
<p>I just loved those books. Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on Their Toes.</p>
<p>You’re right. Montclair…I loved those books too. (Although since one child died tragically at 4 technically there were “only” 11…but who cares?) And yes, Gilbreth. It’s been quite a while since I read those books.</p>
<p>“Cheaper by the Dozen” is the reason I always wanted 10 kids. Why 10 and not 12? I have no idea.</p>
<p>…so did you have 10 or 12 children?</p>
<p>I have a baker’s dozen: 13! j/k :D</p>
<p>I stopped when I had one of each.</p>
<p>I loved those books as a kid. Re-read them a few years ago - they aren’t going to go into the lists of great literature… While the dad did use the kids as subjects in his cutting edge (then) studies of management, the underlying theme of the books are loving. The dad died very early and left the mother and kids in debt and they managed to use their writing skill and family fame to manage.</p>
<p>:)…</p>
<p>The mother was a trailblazer in many ways: She was a college graduate, from Call I believe. And she took over the management business at a time when women didn’t work outside the home unless they were secretaries or domestics. She was, by all accounts, quite a lady.</p>
<p>Wow, trip down memory lane. I played the role of the Gilbreth mom in a school production eons ago. Hadn’t known that one of the kids died. ellebud, I must’ve read the same article as your friend’s mom about dressing your kids in matching outfits when you visit Disney World. The rationale was that should one of your kids wander off, in your distraught state you’d be able to give the cops an accurate description of how s/he was dressed. Gave me some peace of mind.</p>
<p>The book glossed over the death. My copy had a family tree in it. The child who died at 4 was named, I believe, Mary. She was mentioned in one or two of the original chapters and then she is gone.</p>
<p>No wonder Kate wants to film season 5
</p>
<p>Well if my math hasn’t failed me the Gosselin family is making @1 million a yr to do th show. I wonder if she gets 50 and Jon gets 25, making it 75. 16 weeks of work for over a million, now explains why Octomom did it!</p>