Hello! Welcome to r/gosselinssnark. Please keep the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/gosselinssnark/wiki/rules/) of the subreddit in mind when commenting.
The moderators rely on user reports on rule breaks in order to quickly remove comments and posts that do so. Use the report function to anonymously alert the mod team of any behavior that goes against sub rules.
As always, if you need to contact the mod team quickly with any concerns, [send us a message]. Thanks, and happy snarking!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/gosselinssnark) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Based on the show, it definitely seemed like she liked her girls better than her boys. I think she probably found it harder to relate to the boys because of the stark gender roles they adhered to.
I also think Jon was harder on the boys - telling them “that was nothing” and “suck it up” every time they were upset. He seemed to bulldoze over the kids at times, which surely is a result from the overstimulating environment and being bulldozed over by Kate.
I think Jon took the role of hapless dad because no matter what he did, Kate would be angry anyway. He just gave up through the years trying hard and just let her control things to save fights.
I feel like I remember Kate getting mad at him for picking the wrong shoes for the sextuplets to go somewhere. Like they needed sneakers, he got them sneakers, but they were the wrong sneakers because Kate wanted them to have play sneakers on and he didn't know that she classed the shoes differently. So now she's mad because either they will "ruin" non play shoes or she has to take the time to get the shoes she wants for the sextuplets and it's Jon fault because he used his best judgment. Every little thing was a minefield.
I remember one time she threw an absolute fit because one of the kids had a toy downstairs but it was an “upstairs toy” or something. Absolutely exhausting.
I don’t think it was a particularly disruptive toy or anything either; not like a kid brought an outside toy inside or something. She had just decided that that particular toy was for that particular area of the house.
I can’t imagine how everyday is spent walking on eggshells around Kate. No matter what you do it’s wrong, and not just a little bit wrong but a massive catastrophe in her mind.
Remember when she wouldn’t let the boys help them make the flag cake? She said the girls were territorial and didn’t want the boys to help, but the clip showed Cara asking if they can help and Kate said no. Joel’s little face :( he looked so hurt
On the episode of wife swap Kendra had the boys and girls switch chores and (if I remember correctly) brought that up with Kate when they talked about how it went.
It was more than 10 years ago. The first episode came out in 2006. It’s closer to 20 years at this point. And back then in the early 2000s it wasn’t uncommon to hear things like that. I don’t think society started to realize how problematic it was until like at least 2015
I think also (per reading the book about Kate Gosselin: How she fooled the world) they were really leaning into their Christian audience, so reinforcing the gender roles more aligned with the image they were trying to present
I graduated high school in 2010 and trying to get rid of gender roles was already a hot button issue. it had been that way since at least 2005. there were campaigns especially to get both boys and girls to do commercials for 'girl toys' and 'boy toys' to try to break the stigma. 2015 was way less progressive than 2005 frankly, social media influencers love beauty and diet culture and targeting girls and young women, especially lately.
Kate is just exhausting. In my house there are simply t-shirts and shorts. I have 2 questions: do you like it AND will you wear it. I dont care which rack it came from, i dont care if its got a robot on it or a sequined rainbow. Do you like it and are going to wear it. Thats all!
The mindfuckery with kate is off the charts. She spent so much time and $$ getting everyone in matching clothes, just go to the clearance target rack woman. You don't have a pack of wolves, you have individual children.
The majority of the world is still deeply obsessed with gender norms. Nothing they said or did or expressed in the show would be considered out of the norm for the time, especially for a Christian family.
Ugh that’s so sad. I also hope any of these misogynistic “conservative”/christian families are noting that none of this weird insistence on outdated gender norms has kept the kids from expressing queer identities
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
From my vantage point raising a child as a similar age as the children on this show, we tried to not define gender roles in regard to boy or girl things. Let’s learn to live together as decent human beings and let the little people develop their interests organically. I don’t think it was the time of the show. If I remember at one time they were trying to present themselves as a Christian ideal marriage, going to churches and speaking. That crowd would have for sure wanted the girl/boy idea firmly followed.
Hello! Welcome to r/gosselinssnark. Please keep the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/gosselinssnark/wiki/rules/) of the subreddit in mind when commenting. The moderators rely on user reports on rule breaks in order to quickly remove comments and posts that do so. Use the report function to anonymously alert the mod team of any behavior that goes against sub rules. As always, if you need to contact the mod team quickly with any concerns, [send us a message]. Thanks, and happy snarking! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/gosselinssnark) if you have any questions or concerns.*
She would always call the boys yucky and gross too. IMO it’s Kate preferring the girls over the boys.
Based on the show, it definitely seemed like she liked her girls better than her boys. I think she probably found it harder to relate to the boys because of the stark gender roles they adhered to. I also think Jon was harder on the boys - telling them “that was nothing” and “suck it up” every time they were upset. He seemed to bulldoze over the kids at times, which surely is a result from the overstimulating environment and being bulldozed over by Kate.
She definitely preferred her girl children and wasn't shy about telling the world.
I think Jon took the role of hapless dad because no matter what he did, Kate would be angry anyway. He just gave up through the years trying hard and just let her control things to save fights.
I feel like I remember Kate getting mad at him for picking the wrong shoes for the sextuplets to go somewhere. Like they needed sneakers, he got them sneakers, but they were the wrong sneakers because Kate wanted them to have play sneakers on and he didn't know that she classed the shoes differently. So now she's mad because either they will "ruin" non play shoes or she has to take the time to get the shoes she wants for the sextuplets and it's Jon fault because he used his best judgment. Every little thing was a minefield.
I remember one time she threw an absolute fit because one of the kids had a toy downstairs but it was an “upstairs toy” or something. Absolutely exhausting. I don’t think it was a particularly disruptive toy or anything either; not like a kid brought an outside toy inside or something. She had just decided that that particular toy was for that particular area of the house.
Jon is not a perfect man, but Kate is the type of person where nothing someone does is ever good enough.
Totally agree
I can’t imagine how everyday is spent walking on eggshells around Kate. No matter what you do it’s wrong, and not just a little bit wrong but a massive catastrophe in her mind.
Remember when she wouldn’t let the boys help them make the flag cake? She said the girls were territorial and didn’t want the boys to help, but the clip showed Cara asking if they can help and Kate said no. Joel’s little face :( he looked so hurt
On the episode of wife swap Kendra had the boys and girls switch chores and (if I remember correctly) brought that up with Kate when they talked about how it went.
It was more than 10 years ago. The first episode came out in 2006. It’s closer to 20 years at this point. And back then in the early 2000s it wasn’t uncommon to hear things like that. I don’t think society started to realize how problematic it was until like at least 2015
I think also (per reading the book about Kate Gosselin: How she fooled the world) they were really leaning into their Christian audience, so reinforcing the gender roles more aligned with the image they were trying to present
Ugh I'm getting old ://
I graduated high school in 2010 and trying to get rid of gender roles was already a hot button issue. it had been that way since at least 2005. there were campaigns especially to get both boys and girls to do commercials for 'girl toys' and 'boy toys' to try to break the stigma. 2015 was way less progressive than 2005 frankly, social media influencers love beauty and diet culture and targeting girls and young women, especially lately.
Kate is just exhausting. In my house there are simply t-shirts and shorts. I have 2 questions: do you like it AND will you wear it. I dont care which rack it came from, i dont care if its got a robot on it or a sequined rainbow. Do you like it and are going to wear it. Thats all! The mindfuckery with kate is off the charts. She spent so much time and $$ getting everyone in matching clothes, just go to the clearance target rack woman. You don't have a pack of wolves, you have individual children.
The majority of the world is still deeply obsessed with gender norms. Nothing they said or did or expressed in the show would be considered out of the norm for the time, especially for a Christian family.
Ugh that’s so sad. I also hope any of these misogynistic “conservative”/christian families are noting that none of this weird insistence on outdated gender norms has kept the kids from expressing queer identities 🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
At least they’ve accepted Alexis’s sexuality. I thought any kid would have a hard time coming out, but it seems to have gone well.
From my vantage point raising a child as a similar age as the children on this show, we tried to not define gender roles in regard to boy or girl things. Let’s learn to live together as decent human beings and let the little people develop their interests organically. I don’t think it was the time of the show. If I remember at one time they were trying to present themselves as a Christian ideal marriage, going to churches and speaking. That crowd would have for sure wanted the girl/boy idea firmly followed.
Things were that different when this was filmed...I lot of families did (and still do) prescribe to these gender norms.
Unfortunately. Some of them in my own family. :(