Kate Gosselin’s back-to-school shopping strategies are actually a hit with fans

On Kate Plus 8, Kate attempts back-to-school shopping for eight kids, with a strategy in mind to maintain her sanity. 

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Look, before we start, I’ll be real with you. I am an only child. The only reference point I have as to what it might be like to have siblings is watching other people with siblings. I shared a bathroom with a lot of other people in college, and that’s where I part ways with the cast of Kate Plus 8.

On the newest episode, school is about to start (don’t get expelled, you guys), which means Kate has to take everyone shopping for clothes and sundries. Cara and Mady, who’s righteously indignant as usual, are making us all feel old by starting high school. Kate jokes that shopping with boys takes 30 seconds and shopping with girls takes 30 days. (Cool gender essentialism, Kate.) 

I have no idea how you’d even begin to allocate the money to get eight kids ready to start a new school year, but fortunately, I don’t have to, because Kate has some wisdom. “Being fair wastes money.” In other words, not everyone can get everything they want, and you can’t get something just because your sibling did. Kate’s fans on Twitter certainly backed her up, or at least seemed to empathize with her multi-child plight.

More: Kate Gosselin and her kids return for TLC special

Kate is certainly a hustler, and we know she worries about money, so her attitude toward fairness most likely is motivated by financial prudence, but it also might be a sound parenting strategy. After all, in the actual real world, (as opposed to the “real” one on TLC), things aren’t fair. You don’t get something just because the person beside you got it, things aren’t balanced or allocated reasonably, even if you are a TV star, and probably the sooner these kids learn that, the less likely they are to become spoiled monsters. It is a little weird to hear Kate imply that she thinks fairness is overrated, considering all the flak she gets for being a type A personality, but her parenting skills are constantly being called into question, so maybe she’s at least trying to appear less controlling. (Honestly, I don’t know how someone who’s been through such an ugly and public divorce and is raising eight kids could be anything but type A.) It’s not the worst thing in the world to let your kids know that life isn’t fair, even if your motivation does have to do with money. Do what you have to do, Kate. And while you’re at it, can you teach me how to extreme coupon?

More:Kate Gosselin‘s kids want TLC to consider a Kate Plus 8 name change

What do you think about Kate’s shopping strategy? Do you think she’s having money issues or is she just being practical?