Like every other TV show, I am always late to the game. I don’t have cable, nor do I have a lot of time for TV. But several months ago, I saw someone’s blog about Honey Boo Boo and it changed the way I looked at the show. I had never watched it, but I gave it a chance. I’m so glad I did!

See, this is a family that’s dirt poor. They live in southern Georgia, and openly talk about being rednecks. Alana (Honey Boo Boo), started entering beauty pageants when she was 4. She is full of personality and you can tell she really likes the shows. In order for the family to afford the costumes, trainers, and entrance fees, the mother coupons. She’s one of those coupon people who will take a stack with her to the store, and cut a $100 order down to $20. They have hundreds of rolls of toilet paper in the house, and most of it ended up being free from her use of coupons.

The father (Sugar Bear) works 7 days a week in order to provide for his family. They are not on welfare, but work hard to make every penny valuable in the house.

The sisters are all raunchy. They fart. They make fun of each other. But, while watching, you can see that all of their joking comes out of love. They aren’t mean or spiteful towards each other. This isn’t saying they don’t fight. All siblings fight. But they all support Alana and her dream of winning the crown at a pageant.

Some of the shit they do is gross. Their favorite meal is spaghetti (“sketti”) that is made with ketchup and butter. I don’t even think it’s real butter, but that tub margarine that is one of the worst things to put in your body. Gross. When I see what they eat, it’s no wonder they are all overweight. This has been a great discussion on the American diet, because cheap food is worse for you than healthy. It’s easier to find coupons for processed foods than it is healthy vegetables.

They also find ways of entertaining themselves at home. They don’t sit inside playing video games and watching TV (at least that’s not shown on the show), but they GO OUTSIDE to play. They had a grass fight. They made a slip n slide one summer day. They even had fun while carving pumpkins.

There’s a gay uncle, who they call “Uncle Poodle.” Alana made that up because she thinks all gay people should be called poodles. You would think a redneck, poor family would be homophobic, but they aren’t. They invite him over when Alana needs help with her dance moves. In one conversation about their baby pig, Glitzy, she said that if Glitzy wanted to be gay (because they put nail polish on him!), that it was ok to be gay. How cool is that?

There is no doubt this family gets money from the studio for being on the show. The mother has created trust funds for all the children, and has told them that at ANY time they want to stop doing the show, they will. There’s no pressure to keep going for the money.

The mother teaches them to be happy with who they are. To embrace themselves and not worry about pleasing the masses. Could you imagine if every mother taught their kids that, and constantly said this to them?

I love this family. If every family treated each other like this, and made the best of bad situations, this world would be a happier place. Give it a chance. I swear you’ll love it. And you’ll sit on the couch, like I do, and laugh your ass off. You’ll then get choked-up. That’s how every episode is for me. I can feel their pain, because I’m sitting in the living room with them.