# Anyone see Nanny 911 tonight?



## monkey's mom (Jul 25, 2003)

This is the first time I've watched this, and after seeing several episodes of SuperNanny, I was prepared for the worst.

But, I'm tellin' ya--I loved this show and the methods used (OK, the reward chart wasn't my favorite, but whatever!).

The family had THREE sets of TWINS! Six kids--nine, and then 4 and 3, I think...anyone?

So much whining, so much fighting and violence amongst the kids. Mom yelling, Dad not involved. Total chaos.

And the Nanny, instead of punishing or even focusing on the behaviors, made everyone stop and look at the cause! She pointed out that the family was not communicating and that the kids were using the only tools they had to express themselves--whether it be in anger or a need for attention.

Basically she spent a week with the family showing them how to be emotionally responsive--using listening, validating, problem solving, giving the little ones words, etc.

It was awesome! The kids responded so positively to just feeling heard and validated!

The Nanny also had the parents talk with the oldest twins about thier status as the only adopted children in the family. Basically to reassure them that they were loved and not any less special b/c they didn't come from their mommy's tummy. It was very powerful and seemed like the girls really needed to hear it.

Overall, two thumbs UP!


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## cmb123 (Dec 30, 2004)

I saw it too. I like that particular Nanny. Even though I wouldn't use some of the reward charts she uses, and some of the over praising she does, I think in the situations she's in they are necessary and effective. Some of those households are so out of control, they need some of that stuff to get them on the right track.
I felt so bad for those kids last night. I'm really glad that the parents have started to get it together. I think it's brave to expose your family like that when you need help. It does make me feel lucky that I've had it so easy.
I've never seen the SuperNanny one, I've heard it's awful. I think I'd get too upset and start screaming at the TV.


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## tofumama (Jan 20, 2004)

I watched it too, but stopped after watching the older girl suffocating her brother with a pillow!







When she let him up, he could barely catch his breath! I couldn't believe they even showed that.


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## AmandaBL (Aug 3, 2004)

yea, I was surprised at how good it was. i know reward charts arent popular here, but it helps me keep the kids organized, and I cn see how, when they were that far gone, it got them back on track. i was impressed with how clear they made the connection between the kids violent behaivor as a result of no communication. it was amazing the change in a week. hopefully they can keep it up.


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## abac (Mar 10, 2005)

This was the first time I watched it too. While I also wasn't crazy about the reward chart, I thought overall this nanny had fabulous ideas. She even told Dad at one point- There's a bigger issue here. It's not about what's going on, it's about feelings.- Not an exact quote but that was the general point. Yay for teaching kids how to express themselves in a healthy way! There were a couple of other things I wasn't crazy about, but good nonetheless.
I must say though that I was a bit disturbed by the fact that nobody STOPPED the older sister from smothering her brother.


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## cmb123 (Dec 30, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *abac*
I must say though that I was a bit disturbed by the fact that nobody STOPPED the older sister from smothering her brother.

I forgot about that! That freaked me out too...their standing there FILMIMG this happening. Turn off the freaking camera and stop what is going on!!!!


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## mich (Apr 19, 2002)

Is it usually on Monday nights?

I have seen some Nanny 911 in the past and mostly liked them. Suppernanny is a diferent story, hate it, wont even watch it any more for fear of making me crazy! Yuck!!! And double Yuck!!!

I have been trying to find out what happened to Nanny 911. Was it off air for a while? Was I just missing it? It's on Fox, right?

TIA


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## trimomma (Jun 1, 2004)

I saw it for the first time last night and sat with my mouth open for SEVERAL minutes after the 4 yo came up gasping for air when the older girl was suffocating him. I'm telling you, I was very disturbed for the rest of the night - even had nightmares. I would've liked to have seen them discuss safety issues regarding the older girl being with the younger kids alone.

All in all, I like the nanny's no nonsense with the parents. I think she's actually a nanny for the parents!

Mary-Jo


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## cmb123 (Dec 30, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mich*
Is it usually on Monday nights?

I have been trying to find out what happened to Nanny 911. Was it off air for a while? Was I just missing it? It's on Fox, right?
TIA

I think it was gone for a while. It just sort of showed up again last night.


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## sarahmae1 (Nov 11, 2002)

I watched the stupid Supernanny one last night for the first time - UGH! I've watched Nanny911 in the past though, and I really like it. I don't always agree with everything, but overall its really good.


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## Dar (Apr 12, 2002)

I watched parts of it last night - never seen it before - and I was impressed, too. The family went from unhappy and chaotic and dangerous to basically happy and stable and loving. The parents learned to listen to the kids. The kids learned to talk about feelings, rather than melt-down or attack.

I wouldn't use a reward chart and some of the other stuff, because we don't need one here. However, these were parents in crisis. Ideally, a reward chart would be used to help them make the transition to becoming more respectful parents and then discarded... I mean, I think it was for ther parents more than the kids... but even if they don't end up parenting in the way I think is most respectful, they're still miles ahead of where they were...

And I don't know how I'd do with 6 little kids! And were all adopted, or just some? I wasn't sure if they'd been parenting the childen since birth or had adopted them afterwards...

Dar


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## Dal (Feb 26, 2005)

I also enjoyed it though I didn't like watching some of the hostility. At some times I thought the nanny was treating the mother in a disrespectful way. She should not have grabbed her arm and physically prevented her from leaving the room, nor should she have engaged in what was nearly a screaming match.

The scene with the girl smothering her brother was unbelievable! Did anyone else catch that right afterwards when he was crying, the boy said that the girl had made him pee himself. It didn't seem like the mother had a clue about the seriousness of what had just happened. I think this issue should have been addressed more. Perhaps the daughter could have seen what she did -- they had footage, after all.

I found it hard to believe that the mom thought it was a big deal that she got off the phone to deal with her children! I have one child and that happens to me all the time. It's hard to know how such a seemingly nice woman could ignore her children like that.


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## Fieryfly (Mar 19, 2003)

I like watching Nanny 911 and I have to say that last night's episode was one of the most tense ones I've seen. It was clear that both of the parents, esp the mother were very negative against what Nanny was telling them to do. On some shows the parents will jump right in and try while Nanny coaches them, but this family wanted Nanny to do it all and just sit back and watch. Fortunately they witnessed just how different their children started acting and started to get involved, which was great to see.

I totally saw myself when Nanny was at the end of that long day of discliplining those children, just the sheer exhaustion on her face as she was talking to one of the little boys about his feelings(for probably the 100th times that day), "And that made you angry when he did that...." My 5yo and a 3yo I provide daycare for have those days where they need so much guidance from me that I feel like I'm going crazy.


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## atomicmama (Aug 21, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *tofumama*
I watched it too, but stopped after watching the older girl suffocating her brother with a pillow!







When she let him up, he could barely catch his breath! I couldn't believe they even showed that.










Horrible, wasn't it? I turned to dd, and said, "Please don't EVER do that to your bro!"
Every time I watch those types of shows, I realize how great my family is! Thank God!!


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## oldcrunchymom (Jun 26, 2002)

I like Nanny 911. The rewards chart is okay, I think--a visual way of helping to get things under control. I haven't watched SuperNanny because I've heard it's so non-GD.


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## fluffernutter (Dec 8, 2002)

I only got to watch it up until the nanny arrived. Then I had to go make dinner. I'm glad to hear it turned out well. That entire family was out of control!


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## Mummoth (Oct 30, 2003)

I like that show, too. I could only stomach about 10 minutes of SuperNanny.I like how Nanny 911 shows the kids acting up, then the Nanny looking horrified, then more of the kids antics, then another shocked Nanny-Face :LOL


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## AmandasMom (Nov 19, 2001)

for some reason our local Fox didn't run it. It was listed but they decided to run some hour long advertisement. No idea what happened. I like Super Nanny. I wouldn't do alot of what she does, but her solutions are better then what the family is doing. I've done a few things the Super Nanny has suggested, like getting dd to help me at the grocery store has eliminated all the whining while shopping.


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## nicholas_mom (Apr 23, 2004)

My dh is a therapist and we watched this Nanny911 particular episode. I started watching mid-way thru. It is VERY important to look at how the parents are getting along and what kind of relationship is going on BEFORE looking to taking care of any chaos in the children. When my husband sees parents that want help with their children because they are out of control, he sees the parents first to see if anything is going on. What the NAnny did was brief pseudo-marriage therapy. The mother had to deal with the situation then and there before the Nanny could help them.

I hate the other nanny show, too, but I was impressed with this episode of Nanny911.


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## jentilla (Nov 18, 2004)

I love Nanny 911 and even SuperNanny (even though I don't like everything she does like some of the sleep training)! I think the shows are really helping some of these out of control families and reminding parents to:

listen to their children
prioritize family life
to stop yelling and spanking their children
get active within the daily routine
be more affectionate to their children
increase and lower expectations

It also reminds GD parents why we are doing what we do and what can happen when you disconnect with your kids!

Jen married to my BF







and mothering my silly sweet O







: and trying to get a







:


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## tuffykenwell (Oct 23, 2002)

I have actually learned a couple of useful techniques from both Nanny 911 and Supernanny. As with everything I see and read I try to take what I like and leave the rest.

From Supernanny I learned to get down to your child's eye level when you are talking to them about inappropriate behaviour...okay I know this should be obvious but it hadn't ever occured to me and it nips most of our behaviour problems in the bud without having to do anything else.

Also both Supernanny and Nanny 911 emphasize praising good behaviour and I had been a bit lax in doing that lately. Now I am making more of an effort to remember to do that!

As for naughty stools, steps or spots...uh no that just doesn't work for me. We do time outs in DS' bedroom but he goes in there under his own steam and he knows when he calms down and can talk not whine he can come out.

I actually bought the Supernanny book and while I cannot believe her chapter on food (really really bad advice IMO) her thoughts on routine esp. for a child of my DS' age have given me some food for thought.

Steph


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## melixxa (May 20, 2003)

I did really like Nanny911 last night. The episode hit home with me partly because I could see some of myself in the mother - the way she tried to bottle up and thus deny her negative feelings, how that seemed to effectively quash her children's ability to express themselves, how communication in the house was cut off and stunted because of this. I am battling these issues right now, albeit with a small toddler (so no time yet to have messed him up too much, lol. I hope). I thought the nanny was very sharp to pick up on the mom and dad's problems so effectively: not just her communication problems, but his distanced stance, his lack of involvement and constant criticisms of his wife (seeming to give her a vote of no confidence in advance on every single thing. That lack of support would be crippling to me!).

I have to say that I watched the Supernanny one time and thought she was awful! I saw an episode in which she wrested sippy cups away from a family of children, causing them to cry as if their hearts were breaking all night long. Now, I don't give a sippy or anything like that to my baby at night, but it seemed awfully cruel to me to take them away from these kids cold turkey. The way it was done seemed totally uncaring and must have seemed inexplicable and cruel to the kids themselves. There was also a torturously long segment showing the family putting a very young toddler down to sleep in a crib. He cried about it for hours and the parents suffered just as much. The whole thing just felt wrong to me - forced and forcefully done.

I am learning things from these nanny shows, however. My baby is still young. Some of it is a little too horrifying - like watching those birth shows when you're pregnant with your first - so I don't know if I should put myself through that.

One thing that really surprises me is how much other people seem to scream and shout. I grew up in a household in which there was next to no shouting and screaming. My partner and I don't raise our voice at each other, really, and, despite the fact that I am working through some anger issues, I don't think I will ever end up screaming at my babies. So I find that surprising and bizarre and eye-opening.


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