29 April 2008

Jon and Kate Plus 8

I do not watch Oprah regularly. Let me just say that right away.

I came out of my bedroom to eat food because I was hungry. My older brother was watching Oprah, so I sat down on the sofa and ate while watching TV with him.

Oprah was on and it was about a couple, Jon and Kate Gosselin, who have eight children. There is a reality TV show about the family on Discovery Health called Jon and Kate Plus 8. Here in Australia we don't get that channel. Also, here in Australia hardly anyone watches cable TV. I certainly don't watch cable TV because free TV is addictive enough as it is.

Jon and Kate are a regular couple except when they tried to have a third baby they got six instead of one, which meant that in total they had eight babies. When the couple learned that they have so many babies, the father cried because he didn't know how he was going to cope financially.

To make matters much worse, the father Jon who was an IT Analyst suddenly lost his job. Kate had quit her job to be a full-time mother, and so both mother and father were unemployed with eight children.

This story makes me wonder whether it is really wise to have so many children and then just hope that everything will be okay in the future. Obviously life being as unpredictable as it is will inevitably create complications. Kate says that she copes by taking one day at a time.

When the little kids came out what I noticed was just how cute all the kids are. When I look at them a warm feeling swells within me. Many people say that children are wonderful, but I wonder why do people feel this way? Is the desire that people have for children analogous to the desire people have for consumption goods like sports cars and paintings? Are children necessities or are they luxury goods?

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