My Herald column is over here.

I’m fascinated by the one-upmanship in the mega-family reality TV.

First there was Jon and Kate Plus 8 with their set of twins and set of sextuplets. That seemed a lot at the time.

Then we had the Hayes family in Table for Twelve. They have two sets of twins and one set of sextuplets. Makes me think they should be having a set of dont’-have-anymore sextuplets.

And now we have the Big Daddy of all TV mega-families, the Duggars. They have, gulp, 18 kids and only one of those births was twins. That show is called 18 kids and Counting which leaves us with the disconcerting possibility they may have more on the way.

Egads!

Never mind getting them out to extra-curricular activities or giving them quality “parenting”, I can’t imagine how the parents can even remember their names.

And these families have a full-time TV production crew in their homes.

I’m fearful of what is yet to come with this trend and I’m wondering if there aren’t by-laws to regulate the size of these families, like we have for cats and dogs.