John & Kate Plus 8

Y'all.

Is this woman serious?

We've been watching John & Kate Plus 8 for a long time. I've always been bothered a little by the way that John and Kate speak to each other, but think that Kate is particularly hateful and demeaning to her husband sometimes.

I've seen interviews where Kate says something along the lines of, "there's no time to be polite," or, "if we don't say what we mean right away, we'll never have time to communicate."

Okay. I've never bought those excuses for belittling your spouse, but hey, if it works for them...right?

So today we're watching the "Embarrassing and Favorite Moments" episode. In the first 5 minutes of the show, here's what we see.

First there's a very old clip of John making an unkind remark to Kate. They discuss the clip, where John says he shouldn't have said it, he realizes it was rude and unkind, etc. Kate says she can't believe he said that, and explains why she was particularly grumpy that day. She educates John on the proper way to express one's dissatisfaction to one's spouse, and says that she's tried to train him for their entire marriage.

Next up is a clip where Kate shouts at John in the toy store. Her first comment is that John was playing like a child in the store instead of helping her. John attempts to explain what he was doing. Kate insists he was "playing like a child." She then goes on to say, "Well, I really wasn't that loud. It just sounded louder because I was wearing a mic."

So, in other words, Kate, you're saying that it was an embarrassing moment because John was misbehaving and when you corrected him it sounded louder than it really was because of the microphone? "I don't know what I would have done differently...but I just wish John...I wouldn't have yelled, obviously, but I wish John would be more sensitive and pay attention to the big picture of what's going on."

Now I know I can just change the channel. I know I can turn it off if it bugs me. But it's like a train wreck - I just can't stop watching. I'm fascinated at how deluded some people are about their shortcomings.

I'm not a perfect person, and you know what? I shout at my kids more than I should and I'm even catty with my husband occasionally. But I KNOW THAT IT'S WRONG and I try to improve. I don't try to justify my behavior by blaming it on someone else.

What makes me sad is that Kate Gosselin isn't the only wife (or husband or supervisor or etc.) who behaves this way. She's just the one who is so sure she's right that she'll go on national television and say so.