Sister Wives: Kody Brown Stays Busy During Midseason Break

Kody Brown‘s latest transition comes during the Sister Wives mid-season break of Season 19. When last seen on the screen, he was plagued with money problems related to their Coyote Pass land.

Then, in a separate issue, he’s estranged from a number of his kids from his ex-wives, Christine Woolley and Janelle Brown. But, today it looks like he has some fix-it strategy in the works for both issues.

In true Kody fashion, it sounds like he’s on the road to reinventing himself and tackling both these problems. But, by doing so, he dug down deep in his bag of fathering techniques.

Then what he pulled out, he used as advice to new parents. And what he said is dropping jaws. It may also be a way to jab at his own kids, if they happen to see this.

Kody Sells Himself – Again

First, it seems the Sister Wives patriarch tries to address his financial problems by going back to Cameo to sell himself online to fans via video.

Kody Brown wasn’t taking video requests for a while, but Robyn’s husband has now lit up his open-for-business sign online. Some fans are joking that Kody’s turned to making videos again to subsidize Robyn’s expensive doll habit.

Her hobby recently hit the news – as Kody’s wife allegedly spent more than $61K over the last couple of years as Robyn accumulated a massive doll collection. That staggering sum was reportedly spent on not just dolls, but also clothes and accessories.

According to Kody’s adult daughter Gwendlyn Brown, Kody and Robyn spend way beyond their means – at least that’s what Gwen says. Not only is Kody back on Cameo but he also raised his fee to $149 for a personalized fan video.

That’s A Lot of Smiling and Talking…

Before, Robyn’s hubby was charging just $99 a pop for a personalized message. But even at $149 per video, that seems like it would hardly make a dent if Robyn’s spending is as lavish as Gwendlyn claims it is.

Kody would need to make 410 videos to cover the cost of Robyn’s $61k doll habit which would be almost 20 straight hours of video recording – that’s assuming the demand for Kody’s messages is that high.

Plus, he’s got to pay off Meri and Janelle’s interest in Coyote Pass which is another hefty sum. And Kody’s facing Christine in court for child support demands that include almost four years of retroactive payments.

Sister Wives: Ego Booster for Kody?

The Cameo gig likely would be just a drop in a bucket of this Sister Wives’ husband’s debts. But maybe these videos aren’t intended to help Kody deal with his financial obligations. Some fans suggest this might be nothing more than an ego-booster for him.

Robyn’s hubby seems to get especially animated and excited in his Cameo videos when fans ask for advice — as seen in one of his latest videos. Sister Wives fans were shocked when they heard some advice Kody gave to a pair of new parents.

First of all, fans wondered if the person who requested the Cameo video has ever watched the TLC show. If you’ve ever seen Kody dealing with his kids from Christine and Janelle, you know he may not have desirable parenting expertise.

Parenting Advice from a Man with Many Estranged Kids

Asking Kody Brown for expert parenting advice might be like asking a plumber to perform brain surgery. Many of his kids, particularly the offspring of Janelle and Christine, now actively avoid contact with the Sister Wives father at this point.

Still, he seemed thrilled to share his parenting knowledge, since he rattled on and on about what you should do as a parent. Some fans noted that he used the word “respect” way too many times – enough to send up a red flag to viewers

Over the last few seasons, fans saw several of Janelle and Christine’s kids lose respect for their father. Eventually, even Mykelti Brown shut down communication with Kody and Robyn.

That surprised fans because Mykelti remained close to her dad and Robyn even as Christine, Janelle and some of her siblings shut that door on their dad.

Sister Wives: Kody Demands Respect

As the Brown family patriarch, Kody said many times over seasons of Sister Wives that he wanted respect from his family members including wives Meri, Christine and Janelle and their kids.

But respect may mean something different to Kody than it does to most other folks. He seems to expect his family to follow his lead even if they don’t like where he’s going.

He’s said that a wife following him blindly without question shows him the respect he needs. Kody pointed out that Robyn was the only wife who did this.

But again, in true Kody fashion, he says one thing and viewers see another.

The three wives who left the marriage – Meri, Janelle and Christine – saw Kody bend over backwards to please Robyn – not the other way around as he made it seem.

Fatherly Advice – Love Them Even If You Don’t Like Them?

So, a new dad asked Kody Brown to do a video for his wife to celebrate the birth of their baby. Robyn’s husband lit up when he heard the word “baby” and Kody told the new parents that “when it comes to babies, they’re usually so easy to love”.

The word “usually” seems strange. How could you not love a baby? Especially a child of your own? Then, Kody said the “real key to parenting your children is to love them when they get older and when they get mouthy”.

So, it sounds like Christine’s ex-husband is talking about loving his kids when he didn’t like them much. And we’ve certainly seen on Sister Wives the disagreements that hinted he had issues not liking his kids at times.

Kody also said that “in order to love your kids, you must never allow them to do anything to you that will make you resent them.” That’s kind of wonky – don’t let your kids do things to you that make you angry? How would that even work?

Sister Wives: Kody’s Parenting Advice – Blame the Kids?

Sister Wives fans who heard the message assume Kody’s kid-blaming. And it sounds like Janelle’s ex is saying his children made him resent them.

Kody went on about respect saying, “make sure you are loving them enough for them to keep that respect – but you have to set the boundary for that respect”.

Meanwhile, a pile of Sister Wives fans think him putting Robyn and her kids first is why his kids from Janelle and Christine lost respect for their father. Some fans also worry that the new parents who bought this cameo video might take his bizarre parenting advice to heart.

Nothing in the message spoke to unconditional love for your child. The takeaway is that Kody’s mindset may be that if your kid ends up resenting you, it is your kid’s fault because they did something to make you resent them.

Is Robyn’s husband charging $149 dollars for a message about passing the buck on parenting? Kid-blaming seems to be the overarching message which doesn’t sound like stellar advice to offer new parents. This is what Kody Brown is up to today as the second half of Sister Wives Season 19 draws near —  April 20th, on TLC.