What's Next for the Gosselin Children?

I'm a People.com frequenter. It's not something I'm proud about but I justify. Those nugget paragraphs of celebrity gossip sure have a magical way of breaking up a mundane day.

However, I've been following one story that makes me feel dirty. I speak of the Gosselin family meltdown. I don't even watch the show but don't worry, I'm all caught up on cheating allegations, separate vacations, Jon's New York apartment hunting, and the recent filing of divorce papers. I keep reading but it makes me a little sick. I keep asking myself, "why do I need to know?" Why are they reporting on this horrible downward spiral? I want to yell, "Stop the presses! Stop the show!" Give this family some privacy. I feel sullied reading because they are a real family with eight little children. I suppose we can argue that celebrities are real people too. Somehow I don't feel guilty reading about them because they court the limelight. The Gosselins are just people that happened to have a bumload of multiples and get a reality show.

Anyway, my point of this whole post is that I'm bugged by my People reading today. I read the article called, "What's Next for the Gosselin Children?" They had all sorts of experts weighing in how the eight children will fare after their parents divorce. Of course, they said there would be a short term depression, anxiety, bed wetting, etc. Then some doctor gave the following prediction:

"With good parenting the Gosselin kids can learn to cope with the changes in their family in due time. Kids are resilient. They can get past [divorce,], but not without some hurtful periods."

I've been thinking about these statements all evening and I’m bothered. What's next for the Gosselin children? Unfortunately, I can say exactly what's next for them. It may be different for them, let's hope it is, but I doubt I will ever be free of "hurtful periods." Sure I am resilient and I am living a good life despite my parents’ breakup, but I will live with certain weaknesses and will be prone to moments of pain for the rest of my life.

I get annoyed when divorce is portrayed like something you get over like a bad cold. It's every bit as devastating as experiencing a death and someone who goes through it will never be the same. A divorcing couple should take into consideration the legacy and examples they are leaving their children. I'm telling you there are situations that come up from time to time in my marriage where a good example to remember would be a breath of fresh air. I wing it on my own; I hope I do ok, but it can be darn hard. I’m not saying that divorce is bad in every situation. Obviously, there are the situations where it's mandatory. Divorce seems way too common. They say if the parents are "good parents," then they can make the divorce easier for their kids. The definition of being good parents should be expanded to being good spouses that don't break up a family with divorce in the first place? Having experienced it myself, I wouldn't want to expose my kids to the loss divorce creates. That's my two bits. I refer anyone who is curious on the subject to the book, The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce: a 25 Year Landmark Study by Judith S. Wallerstein. And can we get this poor family off the Internet and off the TV? Why is this sad family so popular to watch?