'Til Our Reality Show Cancels Do We Part

Did anybody else happen to catch the “Primetime – Family Secrets” special on the other night? If you did, you sat down to a half hour of Jon Gosselin dogging his soon-to-be ex-wife, Kate. It was tabloid journalism at its best – bitter, nasty and impossible to look away from – and divorce American-style at its worst.

I know I need to tread lightly on this subject, because it is the ONE woe out of the 10 Woe Rings stories that I have not personally experienced. My parents were married until one of them died, my in-laws have been married over 50 years, my Mom was married to my step-Dad until he passed away. I’ve been married to the same man for 18 years. I don’t have a lot of experience here, and I know it.

That being said, can we just state the obvious? Don’t go on national television and say that you love your new 20-something girlfriend MORE than you love the mother of your children. It’s just ICKY. Don’t use your kids as a bargaining chip or a means to win sympathy votes.

If you are one of the millions going through a divorce, no matter how much of a rotten SOB your future ex is, stay true to yourself. Remember to be the person you want to be, not the person that divorce sometimes turns people into: bitter, mean-spirited and childish. And if you have kids, honor your future ex as the father of your children. Remember that this is the one and only childhood your kids will have. Your childhood is over, and it is whatever it was, good, bad or somewhere in the middle. Your kids are watching and listening to everything you say and do, even when it seems they aren’t. Show them what dignity is and how to get on with life when circumstances totally suck.

And if you can’t abide by all of the above, remember the infamous words of Ivana Trump: “Don’t get mad, GET EVERYTHING!”