Kody Brown took on the herculean task of leading a polygamous family in Sister Wives, but some of the plural clan's followers think Kody's relationship with his gaggle of children is more competitive than it is loving. Kody has been criticized for not spending enough time with his children and the patriarch has seen his kids even less often thanks to the stringent rules he put into place to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. From complicated polygamous family dynamics to Kody forcing his wives to choose between himself and their kids, here's why Sister Wives fans think Kody is in a contest with his children.
Kody has become one of the least popular polygamists thanks to the way he treats his wives and children in Sister Wives. Viewers quickly grew irritated with the patriarch when Kody got married to Robyn and treated his first three wives like chopped liver. After getting married to Meri, Janelle, and Christine in the early 1990s, Kody shifted the dynamic of the Brown family when he tied the knot with Robyn in 2010. Kody drifted further from his original trio of sister wives over the past decade until he confessed that he regretted getting married to Meri and Christine broke up with him. Regrettably, Sister Wives fans argue Kody's been an absent husband and father for the past few years.
Kody's demonstrated his poor parenting skills when he's abandoned his kids during pivotal moments in their lives. Kody was late to the hospital when Christine was in labor with their daughter, Truely, and Kody didn't travel to New Jersey with Ysabel for her spine surgery because he was afraid of contracting COVID. Kody's other kids have also noted that throughout the pandemic, the reality star has barely seen them. In an alleged effort to prevent COVID from spreading, Kody has spent almost all of the pandemic quarantined with Robyn and her five kids. As if Kody's keeping out of his children's lives isn't enough, the patriarch's comments in the latest Sister Wives season 16 episode imply that Kody sees his kids as his rivals. A Reddit user assessed, "It isn’t about Covid for Kody anymore, it’s about making his OG wives choose him over their kids."
The Sister Wives fanbase hypothesized that Kody's nearly impossible to follow COVID-19 guidelines haven't been a measure to keep the family safe, but instead to force his wives to pick between himself and his kids. While it might be manageable for Kody's wives to live by his high maintenance rules, most of his children haven't kept to his code. This puts wives with many kids like Janelle and Christine in uncomfortable positions when it comes to the holidays. Fans think Kody's jealousy of his kids is responsible for his restrictive protocol. Another viewer added that Kody's behavior isn't unique for polygamous households, explaining, "In that culture, adult children (males in particular) ARE rivals... It wouldn’t surprise [me] if Kody felt that his older boys were a threat to his authority." One fan thinks as the sister wives gain independence, "The illusion of [Kody] being in control... has vanished."
Kody is far from a perfect father, but Sister Wives fans find his burgeoning competition with his kids alarming. From forcing his wives to pick between spending time with their kids or him for the holidays to fearing his command of the Brown family is waning, Kody's rivalry with his kids is blatant. Unfortunately, neither Kody nor his kids will win this competition in Sister Wives.
Sources: catperson3000/Reddit, nymriel/Reddit, whiskeyteacup25/Reddit