Dionnes vs. Gosselins

In 1934 a set of quintuplets were born to a farmer and his wife. They were not expected to survive, but they did. They became a side show attraction. A whole compound was built and custody of the children were transferred to the Canadian government. Their care was provided by the doctor who delivered them. They lived in the compound where 100's of 1000's of people came to walk through, take pictures, and visit the girls through 1 way viewing measures.

Around the age of 9 the girls went back to their parents, who lived off of their money. The girls had no idea that they had made so much money and their father was in charge of it. According to a book they contributed to, their parents were very cold and abusive towards the girls. Their siblings were also cold and angry of the attention they had received and the suffering felt while the girls were very young.

Recently, I read a forum post which briefly compared the Gosselin sextuplets to the Dionne quintuplets. I agree there are some striking similarities regarding the actions the two families. However, there are some differences.

While I don't know the private life of the Gosselins, I believe that they are not abusive to the children in the way that the Dionne parents were. According to the book, the Dionne parents physically and sexually abused the children. One of the girls talked about how she was responsible for cleaning all 7 bathrooms including washing the floors by hand every day in the house that was built with their money. The Gosselin children have plenty of other people in the house that would not tolerate abuse of that kind. Even if there were not hoards of other people in the Gosselin household, I can't in good faith believe that either Jon nor Kate would be abusive.

The reactions of the Dionne siblings appeared to be envious and angry that they received so much attention from both the outside world and their parents. One of the Dionnes sisters even told them that the family would be better off without the girls being born. I can clearly see this statement being said to the Gosselin sextuplets by Maddy. She already shows that she is not always wild about the cameras being around. While Maddy loves the sextuplets it appears from the point of view of the Dionne girls that their siblings did not love them and really wanted nothing to do with them.

Even back in the times of the Dionnes paparazzi plagued them. Standing outside the gate that surrounded their home taking pictures and wanting the story of the day. While reading the book, I found that this was the most striking similarity. As the girls were describing the gate and photographers, the image that came to my mind was the pictures being taken from the gate of the Gosselin household.

Implications as to the Gosselin children's future will mirror the Dionnes. For their entire life they have had photographers following them, their personal business always in the news. Once people are curious and see children begin to grow up, it is human nature to want to see that through, especially the major milestones whether they be good or not. Even if the TLC show is ended this season, these children will be followed at the very least until their twenties.

The biggest problem I see with what has happened to each family is, that the children had no choice in the life that they will now lead forever.