Jon & Kate Plus 8: A Primer on the Family from the Discovery Health Channel Show

How would you like to have 8 children all under the age of 4? That's what happened to Jon and Kate Gosselin when their already 4 year old twins welcomed 6 new brothers and sisters in to the world on May 10th 2004.

For those of you who are wondering whether Kate got pregnant naturally or had a little help, Kate was found to have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. Both pregnancies were the result of modern science. As a result Jon and Kate have 8 healthy children: Cara and Mady are 7, Alexis, Aaden, Collin, Leah, Hannah, and Joel are now 3.

Since most people are curious as to how a couple could handle so many children at once, the Discovery Health Channel filmed the couple doing day to day activities. I found this helpful in my own life because I have a disabled child and organization is key just like it is for Kate. Kate is a self proclaimed germaphobic who cleans non-stop. I don't go nearly as far as she does although I like my house nice and tidy. Kate admits to washing her Kitchen floor by hand 3 times per day. With as much cleaning as Kate does the little ones have to learn how to be independent at times.

I watched an episode where Kate tried to hire a cleaning lady so that she could have some time to play with the kids. Unfortunately, Kate is so compulsive about her cleaning that finding a little bit of dust was enough to fire the cleaning lady and she was back to doing the job herself.

The only thing I don't like to watch is how Kate is always picking at her husband. The poor man works double shifts (I guess he would have to to keep up with the bills for such a large family) and then comes home to help out with the kids. Of course it is stressful for Kate to be tending to 8 children all day long, but there really isn't a need to attack her husband. I hope watching the episodes herself will let her see how negative her behavior is at time so that she can work on changing it.

So what I have learned is that people can in general handle what life throws their way even if it is really hard. There is that saying that God never gives you more than you can handle, and I have to agree that that is true. Good Luck Jon and Kate plus 8!