Gosselin mania continues on with no end in sight! You know you love it!
Besides the show’s constant tabloid attention and an investigation into child labor laws, now Jon and Kate Gosselin are being slammed for their parenting by professional minds
Dr. Michael Brody of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry was interviewed to discuss his opinions on the mental ramifications the Gosselin children will suffer because of their involvement with the reality show.
He insists that the constant presence of video cameras is damaging to the children’s early development. He suggests they grow up never feeling they can be “genuine”, since a camera will always be there to catch their actions as well as creating attention seekers:
“After a while these kids become knowledgeable, but it’s not genuine. I think that this is where the problem lies. It’s not genuine and you’re fostering this craving for attention, which can create trouble later on.”
The biggest problem Dr. Brody foresees is the resentment the kids will feel when they’ve grow and watch their childhood was played out on television for money. It is this idea of exploitation that motivated Kate’s younger brother, Kevin Kreider , to bring the subject up to Kate and Jon. He told CBS’ Early Show that the couple told him: “‘This is how we’re going to provide for them.'”
Again, Dr. Brody insists this is wrong: “It is not normal for five and eight year olds to support their family…This family, like other families on reality TV, is working to support the brand and so forth. Aren’t there all kinds of products and stuff that these people support? It’s wrong. It’s a commercialization of children.”
Finally, he slams Jon and Kate for not seeing the big picture and realizing that they have pushed their kids into a life they never had the chance to decline”
“These kids don’t have any say in this. They are helpless. They have to do what their parents say.”
Wow.
Do U think the Gosselin kids will grow up to be bat-shit crazy or normal, healthy members of society?
[Image via TLC.]