Post by Forever Xena on Oct 7, 2005 0:47:58 GMT -6
Supernanny rides in to rescue Texas parents
By ED BARK / The Dallas Morning News
It's her day off, allowing Jo Frost to leave the trademark Supernanny purple suit behind and instead sport a chocolate top, caramel skirt and cowboy boots.
BRAD LOPER/DMN
Supernanny Jo Frost goes native in Texas. Feeling a bit wild and woolly, she volunteers to wear a cowboy hat for a photo shoot in Dallas. There's also a yearning to go horseback riding while in North Texas, but allergies won't allow it.
"Horses are a dead killer for me," Ms. Frost says after imitating trumpets heralding a long-ago horse show from her childhood in the United Kingdom. It was her first and last mane event.
"There I was, nose streaming, eyes slitted like I'd gone 15 rounds with Mike Tyson. It's a shame."
The many kids she's tamed have never seen her this way. Nor have beleaguered, grateful parents such as Cheryl McMillion of Arlington.
On last Friday's Supernanny, Ms. Frost rode to her rescue in the black British taxi that ABC thought would make a cute adornment to the U.S. version of the show.
Mrs. McMillion is home alone with her three unruly preteen boys while her husband, Jonathan, serves with the National Guard in Afghanistan. By the end of the hour, all was reasonably well.
"I'm happier right now. More than I was before Jo came," said 9-year-old Ryan, oldest of the no-longer-constantly-battling McMillion boys.
"She's helped change me. She's helped change the kids," Mrs. McMillion said. "And she's made our house more peaceful and loving."
Ms. Frost, 34, will visit Fort Worth's fractious Larmer family on this Friday's episode. Both Texas shows were taped in late summer during her ongoing efforts to, in a sense, Leave It to Beaver-ize American households. Unmarried and without children, Ms. Frost had been nannying for 15 years before British TV discovered her in the summer of 2004. The ABC version of her hit British Supernanny premiered in January.
"The issues are the same, whether it be in Texas or anywhere else," she says.
But might parents be too namby-pamby now, bowing to their children's demands rather than laying down laws and enforcing them with spankings when needed?
No, corporal punishment is the worst of all resorts, Ms. Frost says. Instead, she establishes written house rules and schedules. Children who violate them are sent to the "naughty stool," the "naughty room," or in the McMillions' case, the "naughty spot."
"If you can lay down these disciplinary foundations while the children are small, then you're not going to have these problems later on," she says.
Her ABC show regularly deploys the gimmicky "heightened reality" of most reality shows. Ms. Frost first observes video of child misbehavior on a laptop computer. She's always aghast, of course.
"Look at the spitting! They're like camels!" she exclaimed on one of last season's episodes.
But fear not, the cavalry is coming. As in: "I've seen enough. And I'm on my way to sort it out now!"
Ms. Frost often brings parents to tears by showing them where they've failed and how they can improve.
"I'm very direct. I don't mince my words," she says in the interview. "But I speak from the heart. I'm coming from a good place. A lot of parents will take it on the chin and say, 'I knew this. I just needed someone to tell me.' "
She stresses that parents should be authority figures first and foremost. But Mom and Dad don't have to act like pull-string toys parroting, "In my day ... "
"Get hip," Ms. Frost says. "Let your hair down a little bit and kind of get to know 'em. I don't mean to start dressing like they do or falsely say, 'I'm really down with that music.' But hang out. Find out what they're into. You just might like it."
She looks forward to someday having children of her own.
"Of course I would use the techniques that I've put in place," she says, laughing. "But, hey, my child would get to a stage where they have a tantrum. I think I'll invite some reporters to be around. They can say, 'Hey, you see. Supernanny's child is no different than anyone else's child. They still want what they want in the supermarket.' "
E-mail ebark@dallasnews.com
Supernanny
Fort Worth episode
at 7 p.m. Friday, ABC (Channel 8). 1 hr
By ED BARK / The Dallas Morning News
It's her day off, allowing Jo Frost to leave the trademark Supernanny purple suit behind and instead sport a chocolate top, caramel skirt and cowboy boots.
BRAD LOPER/DMN
Supernanny Jo Frost goes native in Texas. Feeling a bit wild and woolly, she volunteers to wear a cowboy hat for a photo shoot in Dallas. There's also a yearning to go horseback riding while in North Texas, but allergies won't allow it.
"Horses are a dead killer for me," Ms. Frost says after imitating trumpets heralding a long-ago horse show from her childhood in the United Kingdom. It was her first and last mane event.
"There I was, nose streaming, eyes slitted like I'd gone 15 rounds with Mike Tyson. It's a shame."
The many kids she's tamed have never seen her this way. Nor have beleaguered, grateful parents such as Cheryl McMillion of Arlington.
On last Friday's Supernanny, Ms. Frost rode to her rescue in the black British taxi that ABC thought would make a cute adornment to the U.S. version of the show.
Mrs. McMillion is home alone with her three unruly preteen boys while her husband, Jonathan, serves with the National Guard in Afghanistan. By the end of the hour, all was reasonably well.
"I'm happier right now. More than I was before Jo came," said 9-year-old Ryan, oldest of the no-longer-constantly-battling McMillion boys.
"She's helped change me. She's helped change the kids," Mrs. McMillion said. "And she's made our house more peaceful and loving."
Ms. Frost, 34, will visit Fort Worth's fractious Larmer family on this Friday's episode. Both Texas shows were taped in late summer during her ongoing efforts to, in a sense, Leave It to Beaver-ize American households. Unmarried and without children, Ms. Frost had been nannying for 15 years before British TV discovered her in the summer of 2004. The ABC version of her hit British Supernanny premiered in January.
"The issues are the same, whether it be in Texas or anywhere else," she says.
But might parents be too namby-pamby now, bowing to their children's demands rather than laying down laws and enforcing them with spankings when needed?
No, corporal punishment is the worst of all resorts, Ms. Frost says. Instead, she establishes written house rules and schedules. Children who violate them are sent to the "naughty stool," the "naughty room," or in the McMillions' case, the "naughty spot."
"If you can lay down these disciplinary foundations while the children are small, then you're not going to have these problems later on," she says.
Her ABC show regularly deploys the gimmicky "heightened reality" of most reality shows. Ms. Frost first observes video of child misbehavior on a laptop computer. She's always aghast, of course.
"Look at the spitting! They're like camels!" she exclaimed on one of last season's episodes.
But fear not, the cavalry is coming. As in: "I've seen enough. And I'm on my way to sort it out now!"
Ms. Frost often brings parents to tears by showing them where they've failed and how they can improve.
"I'm very direct. I don't mince my words," she says in the interview. "But I speak from the heart. I'm coming from a good place. A lot of parents will take it on the chin and say, 'I knew this. I just needed someone to tell me.' "
She stresses that parents should be authority figures first and foremost. But Mom and Dad don't have to act like pull-string toys parroting, "In my day ... "
"Get hip," Ms. Frost says. "Let your hair down a little bit and kind of get to know 'em. I don't mean to start dressing like they do or falsely say, 'I'm really down with that music.' But hang out. Find out what they're into. You just might like it."
She looks forward to someday having children of her own.
"Of course I would use the techniques that I've put in place," she says, laughing. "But, hey, my child would get to a stage where they have a tantrum. I think I'll invite some reporters to be around. They can say, 'Hey, you see. Supernanny's child is no different than anyone else's child. They still want what they want in the supermarket.' "
E-mail ebark@dallasnews.com
Supernanny
Fort Worth episode
at 7 p.m. Friday, ABC (Channel 8). 1 hr