Jon & Kate + Eight Debate

[LittleMissMagic]

But how are they going to fit all those things in around a school year calendar? You can't be jet-setting off to Hawaii and everywhere else when you're in school for 9 months out of the year. Unless they're planning to condense all their taping into summer months and school vacations, or the Gosselins decide to homeschool. I really don't see how that is going to work very well.

And as much as you like watching the vacations and family outings...eventually that's going to get old and boring as well. It will reach the point where everyone has seen it a million times and is no longer interested. I'm sure there will still be enough people will to pay for her book and pay to listen to her speak pretty much forever though. I've seen enough of people like Gary Ezzo and Ted Tripp, Michael Pearl and the like continue to have raving popularity in Christian circles despite a thousand and one pieces of evidence stipulating they're crackpots to believe that J&K's popularity would truly die off to the point they couldn't make a living off of it from at least the church circuit. When someone can get excommunicated from three different churches and still have a thousand churches hawking his books from the narthex, well.... I learned my lesson about popularity then!

Well they have two school-age children already and are managing. It appears that most of the vacations (especially theme park outings) take place during the summer.

 

[DisneyWisher]

Rumor is that Aunt Jodi and Beth were offered money from TLC for their appearances on the show. Apparently this didn't go over very well with Kate, as she did not want anyone else making money off of her kids.
If it's true it's very sad. Good friends are hard to find. Seems that they are making enough money, it wouldn't have hurt to let TLC pay someone else too.

I remember years ago when watching the Family Feud when Richard Dawson was the host. The announcer would sometimes go on stage. He said that he got paid more if he was filmed. That the show was contracted to pay him for his appearance not just his voice.

When they first introduced Beth and you saw her beautiful house and how she seemed to enjoy the finer things I thought are they friends because of Beth's money. John said he is an extrovert and Kate is an introvert (I am too). He needs people around and she's happy with just the kids and her. I agree with everyone saying he needs to get out and work. I think even half days would help. As far as the Allstate ad, imagine what it costs to feed and clothe 8 kids. I say more power to them. No one complained when it was a juicy juice bottle. We all know this show is not going to last forever so they need to make what they can now.

I will say for the sake of Cara I pray they don't divorce, Cara needs her dad. Since Mady owns mom. I'm glad they are starting to punish Mady more when she acts up. Its horrible to say but when you see her going after one of the little kids there is an evil in those eyes. Like she really wants to hurt them. On Alexis' day out the way Mady kept pushing, kicking and shoving Collin, I just feel so sorry. Imagine what that the parents are going through. Millions of people seeing your child act so hateful to the other kids. Poor Cara she seems to just melt into the background. So so so sad.

 

[jennifer293]

I really hope they are being smart with that money and putting back for the kids education...8 kids to send to college is A LOT..and I am stressing over saving enough for my 2 kids..

 

[CampbellScot]

I find your post very interesting. The twins were only 2 when their siblings were born, yet that one event seems to have basically "ruined" (a better word could have been used, I'm sure) their lives...or at least Mady's. Usually the birth of a sibling or siblings is a happy event and the older child/ren are prepared and taught how to handel the event...granted it is usually one or two babies at a time. As a Behaviorist do you think they were properly prepared for the arrival (not that I think even J&K were prepared for 6) or that J&K could have done more to keep Cara and Mady involved and not like second class citizens?
I know that certain things surrounding the pregnancy and then coming home with the babies could not have been avoided, like C&M staying with the grandparents while K was in the hospital and bedrest and so many people in and out of their house to help care for the babies. Hindsight is 20/20, but maybe if the parents would have allowed help to stay just a little longer for them to spend one on one or two on one time, could that have made a difference?

The twins were four, I believe, when the babies arrived...or nearly four. Life as they knew it was lost in the transition from a family of four to a family of 10. I think the girls WERE excited. There was such a big hoopla about the babies coming. However,that kind of huge change can be traumatic in varying degrees. The girls were old enough to feel the attention shifting. There really wasn't much to be done to avoid that shift. Unfortunately for Mady, that attention shift brought on a lot of resentment. She feels that sibling rivalry to the 6th power. If you look at Mady now and how she handles change or discomfort of any kind, you can see that she massively over reacts. Now that she's 8, she is years into the bad habit of throwing fits. It's what she does. It is what is acceptable to her family. It's the personality trait she's been assigned. They reward her negative attention seeking behavior. It's a tough cycle to break. I don't believe that Mady is malicious. I think she's angry and has few boundaries in terms of appropriate ways to deal with emotions.

I don't know if Jon and Kate would do anything different if they could start again. They coped day to day. If I were to give an opinion when all this started, I would have strongly advised that Mady and Cara have some play therapy once a week, so that they could talk about the huge change in their lives and how they really felt about it. This was an extraordinary situation for two very little girls to cope with. Therapy would have been helpful for a lot of reasons. The girls would feel heard, the resentment wouldn't be festering and building, and mom and dad would get some professional feedback about the mental health of their two older girls. I worry about Mady and her anger and anxiety. I worry about Cara and how withdrawn she has become. They are on both ends of the spectrum and both could use some intensive one on one attention.

just my opinion.

 

[rjthkids]

I really hope they are being smart with that money and putting back for the kids education...8 kids to send to college is A LOT..and I am stressing over saving enough for my 2 kids..

I believe the State has already said that all the kids can have free college tuition for a college within PA. So once again, they have a lot less worrying to do about actually paying for things that the "common folk" are expected to figure out a way to pay for.

I have several kids who won't be going to be college, but by the time they've hit college age therapy and medical bills will make college look like a yard sale bargain so it all evens out.

 

[jennifer293]

I believe the State has already said that all the kids can have free college tuition for a college within PA. So once again, they have a lot less worrying to do about actually paying for things that the "common folk" are expected to figure out a way to pay for.

I have several kids who won't be going to be college, but by the time they've hit college age therapy and medical bills will make college look like a yard sale bargain so it all evens out.

Ok well that settles it..I am gonna get my tubal reversed and have 6 more kids so we don't have to pay for college, but I don't live in PA I guess I better go tell DH that we are moving....ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? That is CRAZY!!!!!

 

[MrsJ Henry]

Ok well that settles it..I am gonna get my tubal reversed and have 6 more kids so we don't have to pay for college, but I don't live in PA I guess I better go tell DH that we are moving....ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? That is CRAZY!!!!!

No it has been reported many times that their college is NOT paid for.

http://theanti-gosselinswithoutpity.blogspot.com/ ( thi is not about college... just a good site)