From TLC.
When I blog about certain topics, I always try to stay optimistic. After all, the people who read this blog are couples — new couples — who are on the brink of starting their life with another person. The topic of “divorce” is probably not an area they want to wander in. But I’m sure the outcome of divorce is something that lingers in every couple’s minds. Everyone wants to say they’ll be the couple who makes it, but you’ll never know for sure until you actually reach that moment. Last night while watching Jon and Kate Plus 8, that scary reality came leering back in a shockingly bare bones manner.
I’ve been watching Jon and Kate and their adorable kids since the beginning. In fact, if you watch all the episodes from beginning to end you can literally see the evolution of their decaying relationship. Somehow along the way the nurturing yet slightly stressed-out parents of eight dissolved into one douchebag and a famewhore. Tragic.
Pardon me while I play “arm chair psychiatrist” for a second: Realizing he wasn’t happy with the directions he took in life, passive aggressive Jon started going through a “quarter life” crisis, which made him shut down emotionally from his wife and children. Kate, who took Jon’s passiveness as weakness, bulldozed over the emasculated Jon with her criticisms and often treated him like a child. Gradually over time the relationship dynamic (plus the added stress of having eight kids and being in the limelight) only further pushed the two apart and may or may not have led to infidelities.
In a way, as crazy and scandalous as their story sounds in tabloids, it probably echoes more couples than we think. In fact, a friend of mine told me she couldn’t make it through the whole show because it reminded her too much of her own parents’ divorce. As for me, I was crossing my fingers hoping they would work it out somehow. Maybe I’m just naive.
What do guys think of Jon and Kate? Was it best for them to divorce or should they have stayed together for their children?
No, they definitely should have split up. When my parents got divorced at 13 I thought they should of gotten divorced YEARS beofre that! And I’m team Kate. Kate is now stuck with 8 kids while Jon gets to move to a tiny apartment (with no room for his kids) in NYC.
I tend to agree with you on the wish they had worked it out… It’s sad how there are so many divorces in the world. It seems that people don’t take their vows as seriously as they should. “Till death do us part” that’s a stong thing to say and mean. unfortunatly many people don’t really mean it… what they really are meaning – Till unhappiness and strife do us part…
I think the problem is many fold. Society has created a situation that makes the value of marriage something that is not much. Gov’t has made is sooo easy to get a divorce that it’s just common place. Since it is so easy to get a divorce – I believe it has caused many couples to jump into marriage when the really haven’t fully committed and or thought about the really meaning of “till death do us part” I would venture to say that many people are going into marriage with the thought in the back recesses of their mind – that if this doesn’t work out… I’ll just get a divorce.
It’s very sad but very true…
Just my 2 cents.
(so sorry – I posted this message to the wrong blog – Please delete the comment that I left on the defying gravity blog ) oops 😉
I agree about the whole, “Well, if it doesn’t work out I’ll just divorce.” But I also feel like we’re a different generation than our parents and grandparents. Doing things that are pleasurable, and overall happiness in general is a bigger deal to us than to older generations. In the past, a couple who barely loved each other outside of friendship could get married, have 10 kids, work on a farm and stay together for the rest of their lives. But today, people don’t want to do that. They want to not only be with someone they love, but also someone they love being with. As soon as something stops feeling pleasurable, our first instincts are to bail. It’s no longer about just making means meet, it’s about instant gratification.