I'll admit to not being one who jumps on the reality show bandwagon. For the same reason I cannot abide talk radio, most reality shows leave me cold and the participants....well, I wonder what they must be thinking. No one has any sense of shame anymore and that's unfortunate.
I did watch Jon & Kate Plus 8 more than any of the others, mainly because it was on a lot when the girls were home. I guess it's a favorite at the Phi Mu house (along with America's Next Top Model marathons...but I won't go there). It's really no surprise to me that Jon is the one who asked for the divorce, because I have two friends who treated their husbands similarly and they were both, after over 20 years of marriage, shocked when their husbands walked out. I was not. That aside, the whole concept of the J&K+8 show is just weird. I have 4 kids, all born one at a time, and we never would've attempted that kind of hauling them all over the place no matter who was paying. It's like those people who drag babies and toddlers to DisneyWorld, then scream at them when they have a meltdown because they're supposed to be having fun, dammit. Or people who bring young kids to Washington DC. Seriously, my teens and preteens barely liked it. What the heck are you doing bringing toddlers? There's time, people, plenty of time for all that.
Anyway, back to Jon and Kate. In my opinion, from the perspective of looking back, that's no way to raise a family. Those kids scream, hit, run wild and the older two girls are just plain brats. They seem more concerned about the matching outfits and hairdos and what freebies they'll be getting next than what's going on right in front of their noses. They've shut out their entire families, if you can believe what you hear, and now have three nannies while Kate does her "work"....you know appearing on Dr. Phil to talk about the octomom and such. They've been on the "gimme train" for a long time--someone had a clip of them on a now defunct home redecorating show that gave them a whole new living room, etc. right after the sextuplets were born. Anyway, I'm glad that TLC is putting that trainwreck on hiatus.
On the other hand, there are the Duggars. Let me just say that I'd only seen about 6-8 episodes of this show, and I watched a couple more last night on demand. I've been guilty, guilty, guilty of laughing at Michelle's 1980's squirrelly looking hairdo and wondering what in the world they must be thinking, popping out babies once a year every year. I scoffed many times at them and their homeschoolin', country livin', baby makin', uber religious life and wondered who would want to watch them other than as a freak show.
Well, slap me upside the head and wash my mouth out with soap.
They are a charming family and I'd like to be their friends. Their children are kind and well spoken and they behave remarkably well. The spirit in their house is so different from the aforementioned goat rodeo of J&K+8. When my kids were smaller, I was a part of some large family message boards and groups on the internet, so I've had some contact with people who believe in the quiverful movement (you have as many babies as God wants you to have), so their philosophy doesn't surprise me. I admire the choices they've made for their family and how they've followed through and been successful. They don't claim to be perfect, but I'm always astounded at how Michelle always speaks to her children kindly and lovingly even when they're little boys running wild. They don't have any debt and they seem to manage just fine with thrift store clothes. One doesn't have to go quite that far (in fact, I love their crazy cousin Amy, who appears to be more mainstream and adds some comic relief) but there are definitely more qualities to emulate in the Duggar family than one could ever find in the "me, me, me it's all about me and what you can give me" atmosphere in the Gosslin household.
So, Michelle, c'mon over when you get a chance. I think we could be friends.
Kate....not so much.
