Why am I writing about this? Seriously? I have never, ever seen an episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8. Not once, thanks to being cable television challenged (yes, it can be done). Sometimes I thank my lucky stars that I am too cheap broke to pay for the luxury of Live TV. And when I read about train wrecks of stories like the Jon and Kate fiasco being splashed all over the media, I thank them again.
And then I read that they are continuing the show. Yes, old news. But when I am reading the tabloids at the checkout stands about Jon’s TWO affairs since he and Kate split 5 minutes ago (um, how did that trashy magazine get into my cart?), and then read that they will be continuing the show despite the divorce, I am appalled.
Where are the children in all of this?
Divorce is painful enough. I wouldn’t wish divorce on anyone. Not only can the legal battle be draining (and it sounds like the Gosselin divorce is going to be a doozy), but the emotional aspect of a divorce can damn near strip someone of their identity. The first time finances are worked out. The first time a new person is introduced to the mix. The first time the kids are told that this is final, that Mommy and Daddy are divorcing and that they are not getting back together. Ever. And they are filming all of it to broadcast all over the states? All I can think of are those poor kids.
My daughter wouldn’t talk to me about the divorce for a whole year. And she went through a multitude of emotions, most of them resulting in anger. My son was too young to really understand what was going on, but he cried for Daddy when he was with me and for Mommy when he was with him. Both of them played us like a fiddle, telling the other parent things that would cause us to fight, doing anything in their power to bring us together. They misbehaved, started a phase of telling huge whoppers to escape from real life, wet the bed, sassed me back, told me that Daddy would never do it that way and vice versa…. I put the kids and myself through years of therapy to get past the break up of a 5 year marriage because it had that much of an effect on all of us.
How are these kids going to get through this divorce with a camera stuck in their face? I’d be concerned about Jon and Kate as well, but they seem to be digging the moneymaking hole they are lying in. But those poor kids….. Maybe the positive side in this is that after America sees how awful divorce really is, they’ll think twice about either marrying some cad with divorce as the back-up plan, or stay with the cad they married.
We now break from the Jon and Kate Tabloid Trash. Carry on.
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Have you entered the Wings Over Wine Country 4 Pack Giveaway yet? Well, what are you waiting for?
Wine Country Mom 
sing it, Sister.
Congrats from a fellow cable-challenged household! I haven’t seen that show before, either; hadn’t even seen pics of the couple until this post!
Luckily, the effect of divorce depends on how the parents handle it… In my parents’ case, they were still close friends that didn’t fight or lose unity in front of the kids (ages 2 & 7), tried to the point of serious overkill to make it non-traumatic and almost completely succeeded. The only real damage done is what’s sometimes called (accurately or made-up in custody fights) parental alienation syndrome — since a mild degree of it is common, you might want to look into it to be certain *neither* of you is falling into the trap.