Super Nanny is a Parent Hazard
I am astonished at the impact that that Jo Frost, TV’s Super Nanny was having on parents of young children. A quick show of hands at any of my presentations for parents of young children indicates that one out of every two parents has watched the show at least enough to be familiar with her behaviour management methods, in particular the infamous naughty chair.
Just how parents can get their kids to the naughty chair and keep them there seems to be a new parenting challenge. Should they be in the naughty chair for one minute every year of their age or should they leave it when they decide? is the question on the lips of many mums and dads.
Super Nanny is the modern parents’ dream because she is the bad cop that many mothers and fathers cannot and won’t be. She is the parent who stands firm and asserts herself. She is the parent who takes no prisoners and who at the end of the program can still get a kiss and cuddle from the children she has tamed.
It could be argued that Super Nanny is meeting a genuine need and that she is educating parents who certainly need some help in essential child-rearing methods.
But I am not sure Super Nanny is doing parents or children a favour in the long term. In an era when the community at large is intolerant of children what we don’t need is a program that primarily portrays kids as pests that need to be corralled, tied down and tamed.
Parents aren’t exactly shown in a positive light either. In nearly every episode parents are portrayed as likeable yet gormless dolts who devoid of behaviour management skills are victims of their wretched children’s behaviour.
Super Nanny is also narrowing our definition of effective parenting to being little more than pest control. The ability to get some cooperation from kids is a basis of effective parenting, however it is just one aspect of the child-rearing puzzle. The ability to promote confidence, resilience and build strong relationships are all essential aspects of effective parenting that spring to mind.
Super Nanny has an instructional element but first and foremost, it is entertainment. It is not representative of children, parents and family-life today. Bring me your worst and I will tame them is the theme of Super Nanny. Each show presents a new and more grotesque twist on the kids-gone-rampant theme bringing increasingly greater challenges for Super Nanny.
It is fast becoming a freak show and many parents just can’t wait to get their Super Nanny fix. But then It’s cathartic to observe just how awful other people’s children can be. It makes us all feel a hell of lot better to see children that are worse than our own. I call that therapy, not education.
Michael Grose is a popular parenting educator and parent coach. He is the director of Parentingideas, the author of seven books for parents and a popular presenter who speaks to audiences in Australia, Singapore and the USA. For free courses and resources to help you raise happy kids and resilient teenagers visit http://www.parentingideas.com.au
