Creditcards.com has 10 steps to follow to help keep the money matters civil with your spouse. Perhaps it couldn’t hurt for Jon and Kate to try some of these out.

1. Don’t blow a windfall
The Gosselins earned an estimated $2.25 milllion from their TLC network TV program, not counting proceeds from book sales, appearances and endorsements. However, like so many instant millionaires, they (Jon, perhaps, in particular) may be mismanaging their wealth. After announcing their divorce plans, he went on a spending spree; allegedly dropping $950 on a pair of shoes, leasing a $5,000 per month Manhattan apartment, buying luxury cars and taking lavish vacations. Yet with eight kids to support, necessisities can exhaust even a large net worth.

If you’re lucky enough to come into prosperity or get a job that pays far above the norm, continue to spend sensibly. Rather than take a perpetual paycheck for granted, assume your past earnings will need to stretch deep into the future. Heed this advice more during separation, as overspending accusations can become fodder for costly legal battles.

2. Don’t take your eyes off the cards
Kate was recently witnessed trying to pay for gas with a credit card, which was declined in front of frenzied paparazzi. What happened? Presuming it was a joint account, someone likely forgot to pay the bill, the balance was at or over the limit or the credit line was suspended. Another possibility, says Andy Jolls, founder of The VideoCreditScore.com, is if she and Jon were charging at multiple service stations in quick succession, the creditor suspected something was wrong, triggered a fraud alert and froze the card.

Whether or not you’re in the limelight, having plastic returned in this way can leave you red-faced and in a bind. Especially if you’re a joint cardholder, check the balance, payment history, and account status before charging.

Know how much you need for everyday expenses and plan for them. Disregard the basics at your peril, says Rob Jupille, president of RTJ Financial Management out of Santa Monica, Calif. “A short time of ignoring can result in long-term problems. We see credit card balances go up, missed payments, and increased interest rates. One late deposit can result in many bounced checks.”

Click here to read the remaining seven suggestions.

In fact, it seems like Jon and Kate are trying to hit every divorcing parent’s “do nots” in the guide to raising well-adjusted children. They’ve been petty to each other, had nasty fights, and most certainly dig at each other’s feelings every public chance they get. And with all the publicity this divorce has been getting, the kids will be able to relive this turbulent time just by Googling it.

ABC has an article talking about how divorced parents can minimize the trauma that having parents at odds with each other can induce on the kids. It’s a class focused on helping estranged parents focus on their children, instead of the divorced spouse. Perhaps Jon and Kate can take a stab at trying these simple rules. Their children would thank them.

In this blog piece, Fannin offers up a little marriage advice. Perhaps he hopes to save Jon and Kate’s marriage with the piece? Of course, no could argue if they did decide to give it another go, least of all their children.  Children can be hurt by their parents’ divorce more than most couples realize. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if the 8 could go back to having both Mom and Dad in the same still shot?

With eight children, reality TV cameras and paparazzi wrestling for attention, it has always been tough to relate to Jon and Kate Gosselin.

But divorce and infidelity? Now that the stars of TLC reality series Jon& Kate Plus 8 have split amid accusations of cheating, and Jon has been spotted with several new women, suddenly the couple seems a little more relatable for many watchers.

“I deal with this all the time,” says Calgary marriage counsellor Sig Taylor.

“Huge numbers of my clients have affairs,” Taylor says. “People feel humiliated and embarrassed, isolated and judged. But when they see people (on TV) that are going through something similar, they may feel they can relate. They may be able to muster more empathy for themselves because they see how Kate can go out into the world and carry on.”

Here the article sounds like it is possible for divorcees in America to relate to this couple. But go on further, and the tune does change a bit.

“These people are hardly a statistical slice of life. Not only did they have six children at once after having twins, but they have cameras all over the place. No one can really relate to them. The popularity of the show comes from all these people who had never heard about the show or cared about (it). They were just tuning in to see a train wreck.”

Read the rest of the article to decide what you think.

Steve said it’s hard, but it comes with the territory.”I wouldn’t trade anything in the world for what we have,” he said.

Once again regular people can, in fact,  show that raising multiples doesn’t have to end in romantic tragedy for the parents. I’m glad that these parents have had a small media opportunity to show us this fact.

Read this article to learn more about the Bailey’s and their family.

The Examiner.com has this article in relation to marriage and children:

In light of the seemingly “national tragedy” that is the John & Kate Plus 8 split making headlines from CNN to the Baltimore Sun, I got to thinking about yet another surprisingly unfortunate statistic I learned in college during one of my sociology courses. It stated that couples with children have a higher divorce rate than the national average alone, and also experience lower marital satisfaction than couples without kids. (Don’t shoot the messenger).

In a book I read recently, titled 101 Things I Wish I Knew When I Got Married, authors Linda and Charlie Bloom discuss in one of their chapters the dilemmas that challenge an otherwise healthy marriage, and that is putting your children above all else. This chapter begins with the bold statement: Your primary relationship is with your partner, not your children.

Immediately, my thoughts diverted to the most famous reality couple in America, John and Kate Gosselin, the young parents of twins and sextuplets – eight children in total – who’s infamous split sent shock waves through the family-oriented, TLC-watching community. Sure, it may have been the alleged 23-year-old mistress Jon was seeing, or maybe they did just “grow apart” as was stated in an interview; but if a couple is commonly overwhelmed with the pressure of having one child, imagine eight. Read on…