The 9.8 million viewers of TLC’s Jon and Kate Plus Eight recognize Kate Gosselin as the practical mom of eight who has come into their homes for over 100 episodes of her family’s hit reality show. In this I Just Want You to Know Ebook, Kate reveals a grateful and faith-filled mother who only wants the best for her children and is willing to sacrifice to make that happen. The story covers the … three years her family lived in their Elizabethtown home, a period Kate considers one of the happiest of her life. In it she discusses the individuality of eight kids (all under the age of six) transitioning from the chaos of caring for infants to the structured days of a home filled with budding preschoolers, as well as her thoughts on communication, everyday miracles, and providing a safe home. During that time, Kate discusses her family’s unique challenges from daily schedules to traveling, her need for control to learning how to be flexible, the individuality of all eight kids, how God provided every day, and her faith that held it all together.
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I snagged this book when it was a promotional freebie from Amazon, for which I was grateful since my library system doesn’t shelve this title and I didn’t want to read it badly enough to have paid for it. I ended up being somewhat surprised at how pleasurable the book ended up being. I won’t claim it is the best book I’ve ever picked up, but it was a decent read.
What I liked about “I Just Want You to Know”:
Book content – Odd how many reviews of this book stated that the content was all recycled from the first book and the shows. I found plenty of tidbits that were new to me, or perhaps I had simply forgotten them somewhere along the way. It was also honest but not heavy-handed or insincere.
Kate’s tone – The book was actually very conversational and easy to read. Even more than that, Kate was surprisingly candid and self-aware. I appreciated some of her acknowledgement of how she behaves and areas where she knows she needs work. So many are willing to pile on criticism, but I remind myself that she is still a human being and just because she has chosen a life in the public eye (which isn’t possible to retract once one discovers the consequences of the initial decision) doesn’t mean I know her heart or own rights to sit in righteous judgment. My faith instructs me to “put the best construction on everything” rather than seeking to tear down, and I have to say that this book revealed a softer, more vulnerable side to Kate than is typically portrayed.
What I didn’t care for:
A bit repetitive – This mostly occurred in the letters to her children. While I thought the letters were sweet, they were probably the most expendable part of the book, mostly because I have to believe that any mother wishes much the same for each of her children, so the letters tended to repeat similar sentiments. While she could certainly could “get away with that” in private, personal letters to each child, putting them into print as such made them a bit tedious to read.
I don’t make a point of following everything about this family (or any other family for that matter), most especially through tabloid-style media. I don’t think I have the right to sit in judgment of them, regardless, but also especially because I only know what is revealed in the public spectrum. I think, because so much of the content of their shows involved their home life, a viewer assumes that is the full story, forgetting that the cameras do not roll 24/7. I personally found the dynamics they chose to share of what it’s like to live in a family unit far larger than most of us experience to be interesting, especially navigating from infancy through the preschool years when a limited number of adults are trying to care for a group of incapable tiny humans that far outnumber them. As someone who worked with infants and toddlers in daycare, the 4:1 ratio is often very overwhelming and you need to run things somewhat like a drill sergeant just to stay on top of the relentless tasks of caring for that many babies at one time; while that was one of the turnoffs some found in Kate, it was one I could appreciate on some level. Anyway, if Kate isn’t your cup of tea, I am not sure why you would pick up anything she’s written unless with the specific intent to criticize and then I wonder why one would waste their precious reading time to that end; I personally have compassion for that entire family, and was curious what she might include in a book with such a title, and I found she revealed some of her heart, which takes more guts than we’re often willing to give credit for.