Some of my favorite online haunts are entertainment industry gossip columns and I’m not afraid to admit it.

I’m well-educated, have had responsible jobs and a long career that required smarts, judgment and strategic sense. I read literary works. I watch PBS. I listen to NPR.

Even though I just did, I don’t feel compelled to defend my enjoyment of brain candy, like tabloid gossip. {Even though I think it’s because I’m a student of both human behavior and media.} A diet of all War and Peace would be dull, indeed.

The Kate Gosselin/8 kids show was never on my must-watch list, but I haven’t been able to escape periodic gossip site overloads about her bad behavior toward her children.

It seems fairly clear that the celebrity status bestowed on her by the TV show has done nothing for her mothering abilities. The kids appear to be an afterthought in her life, and that makes me very sad.

Although there was no way a family of eight kids could be “normal,” the media attention involved in producing this kind of reality show has made their upbringing anything but normal.
Just because people watch a series doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.

She (and her former husband) are completely irresponsible. And so are the media organizations that develop these “follow the family” shows.

Profit over parenting is reprehensible. Both the parents and the network should be ashamed of themselves.

They’ve done those kids a boatload of harm, I’ll bet.

And one day, those chickens will come home to roost.

Cluck cluck.