One of the callers complained that a man being alone with his son in the woods would give the man the opportunity to molest his son. So according to the caller, I guess men should never be left alone with their children....

According to me, children should never be left alone with that caller.

OK, just need a reality check here. On the TWOP forum for Jon and Kate Plus Eight, people are saying that it's "inappropriate" for the three-year-old girls to be given baths by their father, and that their mother should be doing it. Three seems to me like young enough that it shouldn't matter which parent is giving the bath, as long as someone is getting the kids clean.

I have distinct memories of my father bathing me - zero squick about it, and it can't have been younger than 4. If we were going to wait for my mother to give me a bath, I'd still be dirty. My own thought is that if the man is a good, healthy father who has no truly inappropriate urges, it is well and good for him to bathe the girls right up until they are capable of bathing themselves competently - because the real dividing line would be before puberty. Nobody says it is inappropriate for a healthy mother to bathe her son at age 3, do they?

It's gotten to the point that people view everything through a pedophile lens. I certainly understand some paranoia, but a dad bathing his 3-year-old daughter??

My mother combed my hair every day until I was fourteen. I'm still kind of bitter about her stopping.

Men? Apparently they are untrustworthy scum.

Who let them be in charge, again?

And since he ISN'T a pedophile he isn't going to accidentally feel them up instead of scrubbing them.

And since he ISN'T a pedophile, he's not going to suddenly become one by giving his kids a bath. That's not how it works. Jesus.

One of the callers complained that a man being alone with his son in the woods would give the man the opportunity to molest his son.

Hmm. That speaks volumes about the caller. In a sad way, but still. Nothing to do with the father and son.

I agree that they are perhaps getting too old for their baths to be on national TV, if only because it's not that long until kindergarten and the "Ha ha! You were naked on TV!" taunts. But people on this forum also think that it's absolutely horrible that the parents will accept free clothes and kids' shampoo and whatnot. And that they actually get paid for going to talk to church groups and parents groups about what it's like to raise twins and sextuplets.

I agree that they are perhaps getting too old for their baths to be on national TV

Heh. I'd say that 1 day old is too old to have a bath broadcast to millions of homes.

n the TWOP forum for Jon and Kate Plus Eight, people are saying that it's "inappropriate" for the three-year-old girls to be given baths by their father, and that their mother should be doing it.

Am I right in thinking that the cutoff for letting kids into opposite-sex bathrooms and gym/pool changing areas is generally 5 or so? So by this logic, my 3-year old son would be perfectly fine coming with me into the women's locker room at the Y, but once there I wouldn't be allowed to help him into his swimsuit?

Do these people think that young children of single fathers should be left unbathed?

Do these people think that young children of single fathers should be left unbathed?

Or adopted children of gay couples? (That is, if these people are on board with the idea of gay adoption in the first place, which may not be the case...)