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Wife Swap: Kathy Stockdale Swaps with Laurie Tonkovic…

April 23, 2008 08:11:40 by Jennifer_Brown

After a couple weeks off, it’s good to be back with our dramatic life-swappin’ wives again! This week it’s Kathy Stockdale, devoutly-religious mom of four boys swapping with Laurie Tonkovic, mom of rapper T-Vic on Wife Swap.

Kathy Stockdale and her husband Tim have left city life for the country on purpose. With a desire to raise their four boys in what they see as a wholesome and safe lifestyle, the Stockdales are devoutly religious, anti-TV and anti-video games, and all about bluegrass (the boys–and dad–have a bluegrass band). Kathy’s boys are responsible for chores, and she keeps track of their progress through a token system, which they can also use to “buy” what they want, such as (monitored) radio time. The boys are homeschooled and not allowed to date and accustomed to eating homegrown veggies and meat.

Laurie Tonkovic is a fun-loving mom who doesn’t believe in censoring kids. Her husband, John, claims, “I wanna be more of a friend than a dad.” Laurie has a teenage daughter and a 20-year old rapper son (T-Vic), but her home is also home to her kids’ significant others. Her daughter’s boyfriend lives in the basement and her son’s girlfriend lives in his room with him. In the Tonkovic house, it’s all about living for today, and as a result the kids have no chores and mooch money off of Mom and Dad when they want something.

The ladies swap lives. Laurie is put to the prayer test and fails, inadvertently getting up to check on something on the stove before the guys have finished their prayer song. Life at the Stockdale house is tough for Laurie, who cries, thinking the token and chore system is too much pressure for the boys living there. Furthermore, she thinks the boys should be dating… whether they want to or not.

Kathy’s not having much more luck over at the Tonkovic house. She’s uncomfortable during a party that includes hip-hop dancing that she considers to be, “foul, shameful, disgusting, really.” She’s also disgusted by T-Vic’s R-rated rap lyrics. But when she tries to confront John about his kids’ behaviors, he walks away from her, seething. “She’s not here to be Judge Kathy,” he says.

After a week of living in the other wife’s shoes, each wife gets to change the rules on her new family. Kathy has disconnected the TV and boxed up the video games. In their place she’s instituting chores and a token system much like the one she left at home. Finally, she gives the girls each a Baby Think It Over doll and brings in a priest, ready to marry someone on the spot. When it’s obvious nobody’s getting married, Kathy dispatches the boys to the basement, kicking Paul out of his and girlfriend Samantha’s room.

Laurie, on the other hand, brings cable TV into the house and stocks the Stockdales with video games. She insists that Tim take over the chores and give the boys down time to play their games. She’s also thrown out the homegrown stuff and replaced it with good old frozen pizzas and other pre-packaged food. Finally, she springs it on them that the boys will be going on dates. When Tim balks at the idea, Laurie storms out of the house. Nineteen-year old Calvin pulls Laurie aside and tries to explain his position of why he and his brother are so against dating. There’s plenty of drama as Calvin breaks down into tears and a standoff between Laurie and Tim over the video games leads to her crowing, “It’s my turn, baby, and you’re gonna follow it! I’m playing by this game, you better play by this game!” Later, Laurie guilts the boys into going on the date, and they reluctantly go for it, just for her.

There are plenty of struggles going on in the Tonkovic house, too. The girls are struggling with the dolls, which won’t quit crying, T-Vic struggles with Kathy telling him he can’t smoke in the house, and Kathy and John just… struggle. There are many little skirmishes between the two, but when the token system is questioned by the girls and Kathy says something about “mooching,” John busts in to shut her down. Kathy later cries. “I did lose my cool,” she says.

Not that there isn’t any fun to be had in this swap. The Stockdale boys enjoy their first dates and also enjoy a Rap Attack, hoping it will inspire some original songwriting on their parts. The Tonkovic family doesn’t mind the farm work so much and John’s open letter to the kids makes everyone feel warm and fuzzy. They also have fun with a barn dance, where T-Vic shows off his mad curse-free rapping skills.

After two weeks it’s time for the wives to go home. They reunite with their spouses and face each other for the first time. Laurie talks about how Kathy’s boys have no fun and how it upsets her to see that. John tattles on Kathy, telling Laurie that Kathy was “judgmental” during her stay at their house. Kathy fires back, saying, “The standard at your house is just about no standard,” and Laurie takes it personally.

“If you have anything more to say about my kids, keep it to yourself,” Laurie cries, jumping up to leave. “You don’t have a heart!” As she and John storm out of the room, she says, “How dare her!”

Since the Swap, at the Tonkovic house the kids now have chores. They’ve been looking for jobs and have to work for their money, even from Mom and Dad. “They pretty much respect us more as parents now,” John says. The Stockdale kids have been writing their own song, and have been enjoying video games. As for the dating scene…? “There was no second date,” Calvin reports.

Reality TV Magazine is your source of Wife Swap news. For other great reality TV news, please feel free to visit SirLinksAlot: Wife Swap.

Photo Courtesy: ABC

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Topics: Wife Swap |

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2 Responses to “Wife Swap: Kathy Stockdale Swaps with Laurie Tonkovic…”

1. laurietonkovic Says:
   April 24th, 2008 at 8:17 am

   Hi Just want to let everyone know, that I don’t Judge anyone, I only hope that parents can have a little faith in how they have raised their children. My family isnt perfect, but it works for us. love to here your comments. thanks laurie tonkovic

2. Tedius Zanarukando Says:
   July 4th, 2008 at 9:49 pm

   Before Wife Swap, the Stockdale household was an authoritarian household. Kathy Stockdale was anti-fun. Her academic expectations are perfectionistic, hencing accepting only A’s as grades. I was raised in an authoritarian household myself, but less so than the Stockdale brothers. Characteristics of an authoritarian household include: heavy restrictions on forms of entertainment media, music, or Internet use; accepting only A’s as grades, cruel and unusual punishment on children, heavy restrictions on sugar intake, banning processed foods, forceful assignment of chores all day, etc.

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