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Educational and Intellectual or Straight Up Exploitation? Why One TV Parent Thinks OctoMom Needs a Reality Check
SoCal's Lisa Vinton is one of the World's Strictest Parents. She and her family were featured on the premiere episode of this CMT show, and now Vinton is using the web as a forum to express her thoughts on parenting, and to offer advice to those seeking wisdom about raising children in the face of challenges.
On the heels of the news that her fellow Southern California resident OctoMom (insert groan here) Nadya Suleman is prepping a reality television series to spotlight her unique family, Vinton offers the following reaction:
Consider what is in the best interest of these children. Surely it is NOT to have a camera in their face for the whole world to view. There will be little privacy and then, eventually, teasing, judgment, criticism, etc from the media and public. How will these kids feel going to school knowing that their lives are an “educational” experience for others to “learn from”? It’s bad enough that they are already going to be know as the kids of Octomom! Without a doubt, Octomom will tell the kids what to say and how to act. For 5 days is one thing, but for a lifetime?? Please! Stop the madness!
What's got Vinton--and Suleman--buzzing is the recent media backlash against TLC's popular show Jon & Kate Plus 8, namely matriarch Kate Gosselin's delight in the spoils of success. Suleman imagines her show will be different, though; she thinks the Gosselin family's show is "very exploitative and invasive in the kids lives," she tells RadarOnline. Her show, on the other hand, will "be more documentary style, monitoring their growth and development," and "more intellectual and educational, not so superficial." Uh huh. It seems the only difference is that the backlash against Suleman happened well before any show of hers will hit the airwaves, while it took Kate Gosselin almost five years to be called out as a phony.
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