I don't like to judge other parents, but it's really hard not to judge Kate Gosselin after this disastrous Today show interview last week where she appeared on a segment with her twin daughters, Mady and Cara. Kate brought the girls on the show after their recent People magazine interview, where the twins revealed how normal their life is and what a great mom they have. But they didn't follow script when it came to appear on live TV. They were asked what they would want to tell the world about how they're doing and both the girls clammed up. Frankly I'm not surprised this happened. If I was a 13-year-old girl —which is the most awkward time of your life —and I had to be on live television, I would probably throw-up. But Kate isn't understanding about her young daughters feeling overwhelmed. Instead she snaps her fingers at Mady telling her to hurry up and speak. When Savannah Guthrie, the Today show host, tries to be sympathetic to Mady and tells her it's okay that it's hard to verbalize how you feel, Kate looks shocked and goes "No." Kate then decides to explain how she thinks the girls feel. Clearly that pisses Mady off because when Kate asks her if she has anything to say, she replies "No, you just said it." Here's the thing Kate doesn't seem to get — teenagers are moody. You can literally see Mady go from shy and overwhelmed to annoyed and stand-offish. And Kate caused it. If Kate had been understanding and tried to sympathize with her daughter, who was probably very embarrassed about clamming up, things would have been smoother. Instead Kate belittles Mady's feelings and makes her look stupid for not being able to speak. The only person comforting poor Mady is the TV host, who she probably met five minutes before the interview. I know it's hard to deal with teenagers, I know this because I was a class-A jerk of a teenager — sorry mom and dad! But my parents never belittled me in front of people. If I wasn't cooperating, they gave me space. There's no getting through to teens when they are being ungrateful and moody so just give them the space they need to release their feelings. That's not to say teens shouldn't be punished if they misbehave. But Mady didn't misbehave, she was just feeling overwhelmed and Kate didn't respect her daughter's feelings. In fact, Kate is completely disregarding how her kids feel by parading them around on magazine covers and morning shows. I know that Kate says her kids miss being on TV, but this cringe-worthy interview shows that isn't true. I think these poor kids should be left alone so they can have some semblance of a normal life, especially Mady and Care, who should get to be awkward, moody teenagers without the whole world watching them. How do you deal with your teenager's mood swings? Photo courtesy of Kathy/Wikimedia Commons