Parents of my mother and father's generation were often judged by the unrealistic standards of perfection embodied by the fictional TV families on Leave It to Beaver and Father Knows Best.
When our daughter watches Jon & Kate Plus 8, I find myself struggling with another form of illusion: the notion of family life as constantly interesting and dramatic. Quite often, the drama of reality TV comes from domestic conflicts that seem edited to magnify differences rather than resolve them. What we get, quite naturally, is an industry culture in which the prospect of divorce becomes destination television. It's a kind of so-called reality that makes my own household's prosaic routines of homework and supper, ballgames and bedtime stories seem dull by comparison.
The Gosselins' TV series is now on hiatus. Whatever course Jon's and Kate's marriage takes, I wish the Gosselins many boring days ahead - the kind of quiet interludes, private and unrehearsed, in which families such as my own often find their true measure.
