Kate Plus 8‘s Mady is 15 and full of the accompanying attitude, but fans are so not into her shenanigans. Here’s why they should back off.
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On Tuesday’s new episode of Kate Plus 8, the Gosselin kids were once again scheduled like nobody’s business. (I have no idea how you’d survive eight kids without constant planning, but still, it’s remarkable how much Kate finds for them to do. Her Pinterest life must be nuts.) They visited a little horse farm and had a cooking contest, and Kate took Mady and Cara antiquing. Mady had one of best lines of the night when she said, “You only see her on our show for an hour, but we have to deal with her all day.” Hilarious, right? I mean, I think so, but Twitter fans have not been about Mady’s attitude this season and haven’t been shy about saying so.
Look, I get it, teenagers are annoying, but there are some really compelling reasons to leave Mady alone.
1. She’s on TV
Imagine, for one moment, that you’re a teenager and someone, no, multiple someones are following you around with video cameras and they’ve been doing it for years, and between that and your mom’s rules, how are you supposed to get any decent teenage rebellion in? Your parents got divorced and your personal family drama was all over the covers of tabloids. And your mom is totally cool with it. In fact, she keeps trying to get on TV. All while you ascend the ladder of awkwardness that is teenage-dom.
2. She’s 15
I can’t emphasize this enough, not just because 15-year-olds are often full of attitude. Fifteen-year-old girls with opinions and spunk need support, not derision. How about if we read Mady as powerful and unique and funny? By saying she should be put in her place, fans are reinforcing the message that teenage girls get all the time — young women learn that they shouldn’t speak up and they’re more valuable as followers than leaders.
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3. She has 7 siblings
Being one the oldest kids in a big family means you probably spend a lot of time trying to be noticed, not to mention the fact that you’re the oldest and need to take on the most responsibility. Asserting herself among her eight siblings is more than a little challenging. Plus, she’s a twin, which means she’s had to differentiate herself from her sister literally since birth.
4. Kate and Jon Gosselin are her parents
Besides the fact that most 15-year-olds are embarrassed by/frustrated with/rebelling in some way against their parents, imagine that your mom and dad are constantly being written about in the press — your mom for her parenting, her romantic relationships, her Botox, and your dad for money issues, cheating and yelling about your mom a lot. Maybe you’d like them both to be a little more… normal?
5. Trusting people is probably already an issue
It’s likely that Mady is already figuring out that people often want to talk to her because she’s on TV, and friendships are precarious enough when you’re a kid. She’s old enough to know that there are some crappy people in the world, and while she’s always been a sassy kid, she’s going to have to develop a thick skin if she wants to get out of the reality TV world with some semblance of normalcy intact.
6. I don’t know, were you ever a kid?
Can you imagine being a Gosselin kid? Having to go to school with the general population? And on top of the treachery that is being a teen, everyone knows things about your family? Everything awkward and ridiculous that happens to you anyway gets magnified and people are talking about your stinky attitude on the Internet? Ugh. Empathy, people.
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