So Kate Gosselin is back in the news. The mom of 8 has a new two-part special on TLC called Kate Plus 8: Sextuplets Turn 10. In a preview for the show, Kate reveals how she punishes her twin daughters, Mady and Cara, who are 13. [HTML1] "I got those girls cell phones and iPads so I could take them away," she says with a huge grin. Kate's parenting style has always been controversial. And for a long time I was a staunch defender of Kate. I mean, she has 8 children, including sextuplets. Can you imagine taking care of six babies at one time. Or six toddlers. What a nightmare. So I always sympathized with Kate and felt that her strict ways were how she coped with having such a large family. But I find buying your kids electronics for the sole purpose of punishing them to be very twisted. I think you should buy your children things as a reward or because they need them. Many parents buy their teens cell phones for safety purposes. Or maybe as a birthday gift —13 is a big birthday in the life of a kid. But buying something to use as a punishment seems sick. I've never heard a parent use that rational, though Kate claims she's not the only one who does this. If I was Kate's kid, I would wonder what my mom's intentions were every time she bought me something. "Did I really do a good job or is she just playing another mind game with me." I don't think there is anything wrong with confiscating phones and iPads, in fact I think it's a very effective way of punishing a child. But spending hundreds of dollars just to punish your child seems stupid. What do you think of Kate's parenting technique? Photo courtesy of Getty Images/FlickrCC