Isn't the act of Prince Vessantara giving his children away extreme?

http://www.buddha-images.com/vessantara-jataka.asp > It depicts the life of prince Vessantara who gives away all his possessions, including his children to become servants of an evil spirited character. What can this say that Buddha encourages the laymen The Middle Way , while his act of donating children during the life of prince Vessantara seems quite extreme for a layperson? > Monks, these two extremes ought not to be practiced by one who has gone forth from the household life. (What are the two?) There is addiction to indulgence of sense-pleasures, which is low, coarse, the way of ordinary people, unworthy, and unprofitable; and there is addiction to self-mortification, which is painful, unworthy, and unprofitable.