Jo Frost (Super Nanny)

[Ifyouwantmeillbeinthebar]

I’ve become addicted to watching reruns of Super Nanny UK with Jo Frost.

God, she did hand out some awful advice didn’t she?! However it’s interesting how parenting and discipline has evolved over the last 20 years.

There are so many episodes where behavioural issues and additional needs were just put down to bad behaviour, it was quite sad really.

I’ve just watched one where mum and dad had 3 girls, Megan, Erin and Gabriella and it was quite shocking, the eldest (9) had so much anger and was biting and hitting everyone including Jo. I felt so sad for her, she seemed so sad, angry and frustrated.

I was so invested that I googled the girls and where there were now. Interestingly the eldest said that none of it was scripted and the production team were really nice but the whole programme was filmed over 8 weeks and there was lot of changes to their routine to fit in with filming, meals and bedtime different to what they were used to, they couldn’t wear what they would normally wear as no brands were to be shown and not friends or family could visit because they weren’t allowed to be involved in filming and she said it really aggravated her and her sisters behaviour. She also said there was really any change after Jo left and they just behaved better as they matured like most kids.

I found it all really interesting.

Has anyone else got any episodes, UK, version that stand out and what was your opinion on the discipline and methods Super Nanny used.

Surely you need to help them learn to adapt to the environment they are in, rather than adapting the environment around them?

You are 100% setting them up to fail when they grow up… it’s cruel really!

This is why my 17 year old ASd Dd is in severe autistic burnout and can’t attend school. She tried to live as an NT but failed. Maybe according to you she should have tried harder?She was on for 3 xA* at A level.

Imagine if you signed up for an evening class to learn a new language, and turned up to find that room you would be learning in was stifling hot, there was drilling going on in the room next door, that the chairs were rock hard the wrong height for the tables, that the teacher spoke so softly you had to struggle to hear, and that everyone else in the class had been sent an introductory booklet that you hadn't received and so you didn't know what was going on but they did. I'm guessing you would want some changes to the environment before you could happily learn there. You might be a bit irritated if you were told that next week you should wear lighter clothing and bring more water to cope with the heat, "do better listening" to the teacher, not wriggle on your chair because its distracting, pay more attention because everyone else knew what was going on ....

This is such a good example.

As a neurotypical adult, no one would think twice about you not returning to that class as it didn't work for you. But as a neurodiverse child you are meant to 'adapt' and get on with it as 'that's the real world' - what a dreadful way to treat people in our society.

I loved the US ones and the opportunity to have a good nose in the houses. I think Supernanny was better with getting parents whipped into shape with some hard truths but her strategies with the children lacked compassion.

Yeah she was a parent trainer, not a nanny for the kids.

One of the things she found weird was the fact that in US families kids don't wipe their own butts or even try to until they are about 8/9.

I don't agree with smacking (if that was how your dad disciplined) but excepting that possibility, he sounds very wise

Gosh some of the views expressed about SEN on this thread are just so ignorant and depressing but un- surprising and wide spread. My eldest has ADHD/PDA - school refused to consider for years. When my youngest started ( no SEN) the SENCO and head actually said to me ‘oh maybe we should consider referring - now x ( younger DC) is at the school we can see it isn’t just your bad parenting’ .

It also doesn’t seem to cross people’s minds that even if a child doesn’t have SEN some children just are more difficult. It’s disgusting to refer to children as little shits tbh. So much judgement.

Thanks to the posters who are trying to patiently explain.

My dcs were little at the time. She made me feel so inadequate!
(And she was wrong. The much gentler approach I used worked a treat with my dcs)

Dr Byron was great though.
I remember an episode where tte Asian parents were heartbroken because their dd didn’t like curry. They really took it so personally and as an attack to them and a rejection of the whole of their culture.
She had to explain to them the dd was just too young for the very strong stuff but she will grow into it if they were starting with milder things.

I was a bit mixed with Dr Byron. She had some really odd ideas about breastfeeding which nudged beyond some fairly unremarkable time frames. She was hellbent on pathologising those mothers and their relationships with their children. Weird.

Totally agree. It feels prevalent in here nowadays it's depressing and like wandering in to the Daily mail comments section

Yeah. It’s appalling. They’ll be talking about snowflakes next

IME, both as the parent of ND children and working in education, parents of neurodiverse parenting are usually far more aware of their parenting than parents of NT children. They're usually the first to broach the issue when there is a problem, first to seek out support strategies and first to preempt any upcoming problems. My theory is that it because we are aware that we are observed and judged more than parents of NT children to the point that we are hyper-aware of our children's needs and how to meet them.

I say "most" because there are exceptions to everything but I also hate the idea that parents of ND children are doing the bare minimum and not really parenting because the diagnosis letter somehow exempts them from it. The people who think this don't seem to realise that they wouldn't last a day trying to parent my child.

The only thing I remember about her is her awful grammar and diction.

I totally agree @SpidersAreShitheads I find these threads exhausting sometimes. People get so defensive whenever SEN is mentioned. Bad behaviour and SEN are not synonymous and some kids are just badly reared with no boundaries. Of course there are some parents out there who want a SEN label for their kids cos they can't recognise their own bad parenting, it's not ableist to state this. Likewise many parents refuse to acknowledge their own child's needs and deny them supports they need. There are also parents who smoke weed all day, or who tell their kids they will amount to nothing, or who disown a gay child, or who are disappointed cos their kid doesn't win medals at whatever sport... sadly there are all sorts out there but this is thankfully only the outliers as you say and most do the best they can.

i remember being surprised that someone i knew was using the naughty step.
i never did anything like that.
i assume it came from Jo Frost.
her dd was really naughty though
as were mine but i just never heard of the naughty step by which time by youngest was about 5
google tells me 2004, so my youngest was 5 or 6

@Reugny

"One of the things she found weird was the fact that in US families kids don't wipe their own butts or even try to until they are about 8/9."

How do they manage if they need a poo at school?

my dc never did a poo at school
saved it til they got home

Agree on the assumption about parenting, I do t know what it is, I do honestly think some people think WELL I WOULD JUST SAY NO and that would be the end of that.

I've seen this said on here!

I never understood how a woman who likes to humiliate often struggling parents on tv was held in such high regard

she is a bully

Which channels are doing re runs?

any programmes that show children misbehaving in a way that can follow them through life should be prohibited (Educating Wherever, Supernanny… etc)

Tanya Byron stopped doing House of Tiny Tearaways because she felt it was wrong.

I used to love Supernanny when I was younger and thought I would use all the techniques when I had kids.

I've used naughty step a few times (less than 10) when DS was younger but I actually feel guilty about it now. I do think Stay in Bed technique is good, but I've never had to use it

They manage fine because this isn't true.

They’re in for a tough road ahead then, because that’s basically what work is.

Not with Gen Z though. I think they are going to change the nature of the workplace. And good for them. One shitty low paid job is the same as any other. Why should they kill themsrlves?