Spare A Moment For The Kids

So, Jon and Kate Gosselin feel great pain each time they have to leave their children because of their legal separation. Kate says viewers have no idea how hard it is. Jon says it is so “stressful.”

I didn’t have time to write about America’s most discussed and dissed TV family Monday night, because I had to review the new Jay Leno show. But I did see it, and the overall theme of Jon and Kate feeling the pain of single parenting only felt more outrageous after I had some time to think about it.

Too bad if they feel sad. How do you think the children feel each time they see a parent leaving at the end of their temporary stay — and the level of parental support drops by at least half? And who is responsible for them having to leave — Jon to his Manhattan condo and Kate to her mysterious “elsewhere,” which some folks still think is a condo in Maryland despite Kate and the unnamed “source” who say it isn’t?

I really was put off by the producers trying to play on viewer sympathy for Jon and Kate Monday and ignoring the kids’ feelings. I would hate to think how heart-breaking it would be if the kids’ could articulate and we could hear their feelings about what’s happening in this family.

But that’s all right if the kids are sad, isn’t it? We shouldn’t feel so bad about it that we don’t watch.

After all, they have tents and lanterns and cowboy outfits and popcorn machines — the best TLC money can buy (or the cable channel can take in tradeout for product placement). Oh, and they can call their dad up and ask him where he is and what he’s doing. And as Jon said Monday night, “And I’m like, ‘I’m walking on Broadway’ ….”

And do you think they might be wishing you were there, Jon, instead of walking on Broadway?