Little People in a Big World

Since starting the show, Matt says his family has lost some privacy but still feels the message they have to give is important. "People seem to nitpick at things that you do and send you nasty e-mails or whatever," he says. "But, for the most part, we feel like the bigger picture is that we're helping society understand about difference and that difference is okay."

Still, living a life with cameras isn't always easy. Amy says there are usually only four crew members in the house at the same time, but Matt says a larger crew of about 14 people hangs around the family's farm throughout the day. "That's two crews that work 12-hour shifts, and they overlap so one gets the early morning. ... They might come in at 8 and leave at 10," Matt says.

The cameras also limit what the family can do at home. "One of the things that's hard is we can't watch TV or listen to the radio because it wouldn't be good for sound. So for the last couple years our Christmases have been without Amy's Christmas music, which she loves," Matt says. "As soon as they leave, we flip the TV on to watch the news."

When the cameras get to be too much, Amy says she's not afraid to ask the crew to clear out. "[I've said,] 'You know, I think the family needs to regroup here and just get ahold of themselves,'" she says. "It's in the best interests of the show and us as a family that we kind of need to unwind."