<p>The way I see Jon, is how I saw freshman college kids. You could always tell the ones that came from a very strict family. How? They were the ones that spent the first few Fridays praying to the porcelain God. They were the girls that became incredibly sexual, because they weren’t allowed to date. They were the ones that were put on academic probation because they cut every class to watch Oprah.</p>
<p>It is called rebellion! Remember he was 22 when he married her, and 24 when she got pregnant, by the time he was 28 he had 8 children. I am not making an excuse for his behavior, but you can see why he is going off the deep end. What is strange is that the paparazzi finds him on his “days away” and when he is there. Yet, you never see her on her “days away”</p>
<p>The funny thing is in their older episodes they discuss how he was the “bad boy” and that was what attracted her to him. He was probably attracted to her for giving order/guidance in his life.</p>
<p>For what’s it worth, I think they probably would still be getting divorced regardless of the show. The difference is at least the kids will financially have a better life.</p>
<p>I wonder if her family will testify for him. I know her brother and his wife do not speak to her. I believe she also does not speak to her parents too.</p>
<p>OBTW, my friend visited last week and this subject came up. She was at Bald Head when Kate was there, she said she saw with her own eyes it is true, she is horrible to the children. Friend is a pre-school teacher and said when cameras weren’t rolling the kids did not go to Kate, they went to the Nannies. That one time the kids were running to the water and sand kicked up on her and she went ballistic on them, bad enough that one had to be comforted by the Nanny.</p>
<p>Besides the public carousing, I think the thing that annoys me most about Jon is when he talks about how young he was when he got married and had so many kids…hello, nobody put a gun to his head and made him become a father. When you have kids, it’s time to man up.</p>
<p>I haven’t been watching the show since the split, but I caught part of one recent episode (while treadmilling) where Jon was making the kids wade through the mud to get to the back of their property to go fishing. All of the kids were crying and whining and begging to go back but he wanted them to fish. It made me think of the episode where he brought the boys “golfing” with him and let them run all over the golf course, even out of sight while he golfed. Both shows made me think that Jon plans activities with the kids that Jon wants to do, while at least Kate seems to plan things that she thinks the kids will enjoy.</p>
<p>I’m not saying I think Kate’s a perfect mom by any stretch, but I consider the times that I’ve been stressed about work or life and snapped at my daughter. If anyone were “watching” me (or any other parent), they could find instances of what they might consider inappropriate parenting. But I always tried to go back later and apologize to my daughter to teach her that even parents say things they later regret.</p>
<p>The saddest part is that all the mistakes of these two parents are captured for eternity.</p>
<p>I could be very wrong but I’m hoping that the reason we haven’t seen Kate on her “days away” is because she just hasn’t done anything inappropriate…one can only hope. Maybe she’s just laying low and letting the papparrazi have more fun following Jon’s shenanigans.</p>
<p>I have to say, I thought this week’s People Magazine cover was interesting. I picked it up because Elizabeth Smart was on the cover. I then noticed a smaller picture of Kate on the cover.</p>
<p>I think the entire Smart family acted with grace and dignity in a very difficult time. I only wish that Jon and Kate both could look at the magazine cover and be struck (as I was) with just how unimportant their petty disputes are. They have 8 wonderful kids, all healthy, and not one of them has been through what Elizabeth has endured. Instead of fighting over money and control, they should be counting all of their blessings.</p>
<p>I don’t think Jon seems smart enough to be considered a geek. A dork, maybe. A jerk, certainly. But now he’s a jerk with money and fame of sorts. </p>
<p>And as for those ghastly Ed Hardy shirts he always wears— what young people are going to think they’re cool after seeing them on that guy? Maybe he’ll gain some positive attention for helping end a bad clothing trend…</p>
<p>Jon seems to be a relatively lazy, unambitious guy. Hard to defend him. </p>
<p>But Kate’s conduct was certain to wreck any marriage. Treat a guy with a lack of respect? Harangue him about a 50 cent coupon (that episode made any guy watching cringe)? Be ceaselessly negative and self-righteous? Very, very few men will stay in that kind of relationship. Kate is insecure as can be and found him a convenient receptacle to dump all of her insecurities on him. A recipe for disaster. </p>
<p>And in a strange way I find the show beneficial for young men. If they observe their girlfriend or significant other acting this way, run, Kate demonstrates that run, and don’t walk from that kind of thing is the way forward.</p>
<p>What I thought was interesting in the article where Jon was interviewed was that he was not too familiar with his calendar and he said that his GF is handling his schedule. I found it interesting that he is handing over the responsibility of his schedule to his GF rather than handling his own schedule. My very thought was that some things will never change, but perhaps I am reading too much into it. He just seems so passive to me.</p>
<p>Oh another thing in that article, he whines that his family only makes 12.5k per episode, yet he thought that the tummy tuck for 20k was so very generous (not to mention all of the free advertising for doing this surgery for free).</p>