06x10 - Super-Manny Special: The Griswold Family

[bunniefuu]

Tonight on "super-manny," child expert mike ruggles...

Oh, oh, get it!who's been working with families in crisis

For two decades...

Cheers.cheers.

Visits the griswold home...

You're not gonna lock us out of our home![Screaming]

A place of v*olence and chaos.

Oh!

Dad's temper terrifies the kids.

I said leave the toy.

Oh, my god.mom is constantly negative.

I try to get what you need from the library,

And I try to get what you need from the bookstore.

No, brianna, but I would.[Brianna] okay.

You're so rude.[Screaming]

And the year old acts like hell on wheelssit down!

You're not giving me any choice...

Helping this family will take all mike has.

He's not the boss of this house. He doesn't make the decisions.

They cannot handle the yelling.

I can't handle the yelling.

You're talking over me.and he's not gonna pull any punches.

You've got excuses after excuses after excuses.

You guys wanted me, the professional,

To tell you what's going on. I'm just warming up.

My name is mike ruggles,

And I've been helping families in crisis

For over years.

When I first saw the footage of the griswold family,

I thought, wow, they were a disaster.

What?! Huh?!

Give me the soda.no!

I am a stay-at-home mom,

And I am with the children the majority of the time.

Oh, no![Gasps] oh, my god.

This house is full of chaos.

No! I am not doing my hair!oh, yeah.

[Indistinct conversation][roberta] come on.

Joe has got anger management problems.

[Yelling indistinctly]

Joe will just call you every name in the book...[Bleep]

Leave me alone!punches, kicks...

Ow!

[Roberta] I've got people lookin' at me

In the grocery store.mommy.

Joseph, get over here. Joseph!

Joe writing the [bleep] word on the freezers,

Breakin' salad dressings. It's embarrassing

To the point where you don't want to go anywhere.

Joseph, you better open the door now.

We're seriously locked out of our own house.

Oh![Joe] get out of here!

Joseph.

Don't do it again.

Because you look at him, and your forehead gets red,

And you go... [Growling] "I'm gonna k*ll you!"

Joseph, leave it where it is.hey!

I'm not gonna tell you again.

I can have a short fuse.

If you come out, I'm gonna bust your ass.

I said go.

I said leave the toy.

[Mike] such anger and intensity from dad, it's unacceptable.

He can get his point across without all that yelling.

I don't want you to come home after drinking alcohol.

I heard you already!hey, let's--

This is what's annoying about you.

You keep sayin' it. You're a frickin' nag.

I mean, I got brianna calling me every word, tellin' me off.

[Brianna] dumb-ass.brianna.

Don't call me names.

I didn't have four kids. You did.

Brianna, no alcohol at all.i know.

I know when you get around these group of kids,

You start acting like a fool.

[Roberta] brianna had an issue

Where she went out with some friends

And had way too much to drink.

It was alcohol poisoning. We had to call an ambulance.

If we would've just let brianna go to sleep,

She would've never woke up. What do you do with her at ?

I-i mean, she's hangin' out with kids that are in college.

[Mike] I'm really disturbed about the amount of negativity

Coming from mom.

[Groans] my life.

I'd like you to see what I go through on a normal day.

I do. I do.no, you don't know. No, you don't know.

Nobody else does anything in this...

[Joe] why am I in here?

Hellhole other than mom.

I hate you![Brianna] hate you more.

I'm frustrated. I feel like I've failed

As--as a-- as a parent.

[Mike] negativity is usually a sign

Of someone with low self-esteem.

I wanted to get in there as soon as I could.

Super-manny, please come and help our family.

'Cause we're obviously doing something wrong.

Oh, my god!

Hi, roberta, how are you?hi.

Nice to meet you. I'm mike.nice to meet you.

Thanks for having me.come on in.

When he first came to the door, I was a little nervous,

But, thank god, help is here.

This is alex.how you doin'?

This is lauren.hi, lauren. I'm mike.

Hi.nice to meet you. How are you?

We've got brianna here.you weren't sure about the handshake. Okay.

How are you?this is joe.

When I first met mike,

I was like, "what is this guy gonna do?"

While I waited for dad to get back from work,

I gathered more information, and I saw

Just how dysfunctional this family really is.

Now what do you guys normally do here?

[Roberta] you're normally sleeping.no, I'm not.

I never sleep this late. That's a crock full of [bleep]

I never sleep this late.now that's not nice talk.

That's very vulgar.i never sleep this late.

Okay. You're nappin' at--what are you smoking?

Smoking? I don't smoke anything.

I never sleep this late. I sleep till, like, :.i-i might start--

I might start drinking with this group.

The latest I've slept this whole summer break

Was :.all right, you're on nap number by now.

I'm sorry.i don't take naps.

Okay.i never get to take naps.

It became more and more clear to me,

That this family had only one mode of communication--yelling.

Any housework ever here?

Sometimes I help with the dishes, sometimes.

[Lauren] I clean the bathroom.

Um, once--oh, shut the hell up.

You do not clean the bathroom. That's a crock of--no.i did.

[Mike] it's just sad to see that this is not a family.

This is a group of "i"s. Everybody's out for themselves.

And mom gave them no credit

Or positive reinforcement for anything.

Everything she said was negative.

Nobody does anything, period, in this house.

You guys have to admit that. Admit it.[Joe] no.

Do you ever do any work in this house, admit yes or no?

You're lying.

I decided to talk to each family member one on one,

Just to see what I could learn.

I started with lauren,

And when I brought up dad, I could see her face tighten up.

Daddy cusses, and he yells a lot.a lot?

And he yells...every day, what?

Every day, almost.every day he yells.

Then I decided to talk to brianna about her drinking...

You got trashed.

I got--you were, they said, three times the legal limit.

I don't remember.

And to mom.

How does dad feel about joe?

My husband's put the fear of god into him.

Joe's afraid of his father,

Because my husband will yell

And cuss at him.

I'm feeling very overwhelmed.right.

I just keep saying, "no wonder why women run away from home."

I fee like ab-abused here,

Like everybody takes advantage of me.

Coming up on "super-manny,"

Mike kicks the parents out of the house,

So he can confront dad with the disturbing truth.

You be dad, and I'll be you.

He says, "right now, or else I'll smack your face!"

[Mike] before dad came home from work,

Joe went into this huge tirade.

He flipped. I couldn't believe it.

Oh, come on, joe. Come here.mom, look at my hair!

Don't yell at me like that.look!

Joe was having a tantrum.

He thought his hair didn't look perfect,

Kept yelling at his mom for the hair gel.

Go use a brush.no!

[Yelling and crying]i fixed it once today.

How is--

I'm not following you.

It's messed up. Let me...the anger and aggression

I'm seeing from joe has to come from somewhere.

And I couldn't wait for dad to arrive,

'Cause I'm convinced that he's actually a major part

In the chaos in this house.

Did you--are you freakin' blind? Look!

It was all over the bathroom floor,

Slammin' the door, tore out the whole cupboard.

[Speaking indistinctly]quit throwing things. You're destroying this whole cupboard.

Stop it.i need to shut it, because I need to--

To clean up this mess![Door slams]

♪♪

How you doin'?allan,

I'm mike. How are you?good.

[Mike] once dad arrived, I decided to hold off

And let 'em eat. And what I saw was revealing.

Alex, shut the drawer. Let's go.

Shut the drawer.[Roberta] mind your own "p"s and "q"s.

[Crying]

I think my sister and brothers are afraid of my dad

When he gets angry.

[Mike] I had seen enough,

And I didn't want to waste another minute.

I knew I could get more of the truth out of the kids

Without the parents there, so I kicked 'em out of the house.

I decided to use an exercise I came up with

Called the role-play technique. It gives the parents a chance

To see how the kids really feel about them

Without actually having to be in the room.

Mom and dad, I need you guys to go to the garage.

Okay.okay.

So when we got to the garage, I saw the monitors,

And i-i didn't know what to expect.

Right now I'm very nervous and concerned.

I'm nervous. It'll be interesting to see.

What do you think's gonna happen?

[Mike] mom and dad were getting more and more nervous.

They should be.

When this technique works, it's a slap in the face.

I want to thank you very much for being here with me.

All right, what we're gonna do is we're gonna do something

Called role-play. You be dad, and I'll be you.

Okay, now pretend I've done something just now.

He.so he wants to talk to you.

Well, how would he--how would he get your attention?

I want you to go get me a [bleep] soda.

Okay, and if you do go get the soda...

Then he's still mad at me.

Uh, what about if, say,

You've thrown, uh, something at--

At your mom.

He would spank us.

Like, he says,

"Right now, or else I'll smack your face!

Don't do that!"

Okay, and what do you do?i'm scared.

You're scared. And if you--and if you...

Hmm.

Now what are you scared about?

He--he just blows . What were you guys most afraid of...

Oh, my god.

His face--like, his whole entire face

Can you show me that face?

[Growl]

Again, show me.aa!

Well, yeah, you used to do this.yeah.

There were reasons.

Man, and I'm sorry, that must have been scary.

It was.how does that make you feel, man?

It makes me feel sick.

All right, thanks, buddy.

You're not saying anything.

You're mad.

I can tell.

I don't--what is wrong?

I'm hurt.

Hmm.he made me out to be such a monster,

And I'm not.

It's confusing.

[Sniffling]don't cry.

The yelling scares me, too.

The tone is scary.

I think it was

A big wake-up call for my husband to see that.

The yelling, the red face,

The fighting for both of us

Is a wake-up call.

[Allan] I was hurt.

I-i never realized my yelling

Was turnin' me into a monster.

Coming up on "super-manny,"

Mike makes dad see his anger has consequences...

It's breaking their spirit. We understand that you're angry.

We understand you're making a point.

But you don't have to make that point

By yelling and screaming at them.

And confronts mom and dad about where they're heading.

You guys are on a path of...

[Imitates expl*si*n]

I have been here, uh, a short amount of time,

But I have seen a lot, and I'm--i'm not happy.

Nobody's happy.and you're right, no one is happy.

Nobody's happy.so that's-- that's why I'm here.

Dad, let's talk about your anger,

And--and how everybody feels about that.

Daddy cusses, and he yells a lot.

I said leave the toy.

It's the intensity that scares 'em,

'Cause they're not sure what's gonna happen next.

They cannot handle the yelling from either one of you.

I can't handle the yelling.

It's breaking their spirit. We understand that you're angry.

We understand you're making a point.

But you don't have to make that point

By yelling and screaming at them.

Mom, your negativity in this house

Makes me cringe.

Nobody else does anything in this...[Joe] put 'em in here.

Hellhole.

I just keep saying, "no wonder why women run away from home."

I've--i'm very miserable here.

But you're making them miserable as well...well--

By your running commentary of your day.

Well, if someone would get up and do something...wait--wait--

Other than nap--wait, I've seen them do stuff...

Well, that's just a front.and when they did stuff-- you're talking over me.

I am telling you what's not working.

This negative-negative in front of your kids,

They know. They know that you're spent.i'm just exhausted.

But they don't care.oh, yeah, they-- they run the house.

I've already said that. They've taken over.

Uh, he knows that, too.

The way you're running this

Is only gonna lead to failure.

Seriously, you guys are on a path of...

[Imitates expl*si*n] it's gonna blow up.

You're not giving them structure.

You're not giving them follow-through.

And now they're running amok.

They just quit on me. I've tried to give 'em--

We've had a, you know--you--you let them quit on you.

Everyone needs to know

That they are being held accountable,

That if they don't do this,

This happens every time,

Not out of , not out of ,

Not even out of .

You're as important as they are.

Yeah, but we've lost control.

Get it back.

Okay, brianna calls you what?every name in the book.

Why does she call you those names?

Because she doesn't get her way.

I'll keep saying to her,

"Brianna, can you please get up and help."And she says...

"Oh, you're a nag." Finally I gave up

And stopped asking for help.why is a year old

Bossing you around the house, telling you what to do?

Because she's the princess.you guys understand

That you're gonna unleash a child who thinks

That the world revolves around her.

When she was dr-drinking,

And she got trashed, according to--she almost d*ed.

Oh, she almost d*ed.it's been our fight all along.

We're sure that she's not doing it anymore?

When she leaves this house, I can't--i--

No, I can't tell you that.what about you?

I caught her drinkin'.i want you to really grasp--

If you haven't, grasp now

That brianna is on a collision course.

We have no time anymore, guys.

It's now that we have to do this.

You guys wanted me here. I'm here.

You guys wanted me, the professional,

To tell you what's going on. I'm just warmin' up.

I need you guys to work.

I need you to believe in what we're gonna do.okay.

I was surprised to see how many issues we had.

It's unbelievable.

Can you guys do that for me?

Yeah, well, I'm all for it. Are you?

[Allan] some changes need to happen, drastically.

We'll do whatever it takes to make it work.let's get it done.

I expect them to really want to work on this,

Because that's what it's gonna take.

Now that I've confronted the family

On what they need to change, it's teachin' time.

It's time to give them the tools to really fix their family.

The first thing I'm gonna work on

Is how to teach this family to discipline correctly.

My first priority is to make sure

That dad can discipline without yelling so much.

I want to change the fact that mom doesn't discipline at all.

When joe picked up a drill he was told not to play with,

This was a perfect opportunity

To have dad run through a proper time-out...

I asked you not to play with the tools.

I didn't.come on.

I didn't.come on.

Daddy, I didn't!we caught you.

To show him and teach him the exact steps to do

Without him losing his temper.

Seven minutes right here.

Seven minutes. Your time-out--i don't want--

Your time-out starts right here, son.

I want my seven minutes in my room!no. Right here.

[Mike] go get him. Go get him then.

If he's not gonna make it easier for you, then go get him.

Right here.go get him, dad. Go get him.

Son.

Son.

To the chair.

[Groans] no!

Guys, let's have a--keep--no!

Come on.keep going.

Come on.no.

Look at you. Look at what you're doing.

Son...keep--remember, he's not the boss of this house.

Come on, let's go.he doesn't make the decisions.

Let's go, all right.no!

And just let him know, "you didn't give me any choice."[Speaking indistinctly]

No!"You're not giving me any choice."

Joseph..."I asked you to come here, and you did not."

No! No!if you're not gonna do this on your own recognizance--

Now stay.

[Mike] okay, go ahead and start the seven.

Dad took charge, did it right away.

He was calm.

Give him a warning. "If you slam that table one more time,

I'm adding another time-out to this."

One more time on the slamming

Of the table, joe, you get another time-out.

He did just the--the right amount of talking,

And then didn't engage him anymore.

[Beeps]

Let's try to get on one knee, okay?all right.

Just--you were-- you were doing good...[Crying]

In the beginning, and I just want you to make sure

That you're eye-level with him and stuff.

You ended up here for not listening to the rules.

Now we don't really need all this hard time that you gave.

[Mike] I'm absolutely proud of dad.

It's the first step, though, and I'm really curious

To see if dad can keep this going.

Mom's got the opposite problem of dad.

Mom's not aggressive enough. She has no faith in herself.

She's very passive.

She doesn't believe in what she's doing, and it shows.

So I had what I call my "mini-mike" technique.

I put a tiny earpiece in mom's ear, so I could guide her

From afar without the kids knowing I was there.

Today we're going on a trip.

We're going to the mall.

Me and the kids?yep.

Okay.we're gonna be focusing on being positive.

I am terrified that mike's going to be gone for the mall.

The test will definitely be on.

I really don't-- I don't know what to expect.

Okay, come on.

My two main goals of the mini-mike

Are to help roberta practice discipline

And her follow-through

And to really change her negativity around.

Good, job-- [gasps] joe.

Joe's splashin' alex in the fountain.

Take him to a time-out.

Sit down. Don't move for seven minutes.

Give me my drink.no. We're--sit there.

No, you don't get anything to drink.

[Grunting]no. Sit.

Follow-through-- follow-through is the key.

Follow-through is the key.no.

Joseph allan.

Sit right here.i hate you.

That's--that's fine. Sit down right there.i hate you.

I didn't want to go to time-out.

No, you don't get anything. Give me the cookie.

Give me the cookie now.

One warning.i'm only giving you one warning.

Here!thank you.

Good verbal praise. Good job.

Mom! Seven minutes!

Don't engage him. Don't engage him.

Seven minutes and then walk away.

It's :. You have till :.

[Crying] mommy, is it seven minutes?

Joe tested me towards the end, but he didn't get over on me.

I put him in time-out.

I timed it on the cell phone to the seven minutes.

And he sat there, and he listened to me.

Now explain why he's there.

Do you know why you're here?yes.

Why?i smacked alex

In the face with water.

You're also here for another reason.

You raised your voice. Okay, joe,

You need to not do that.

At home-- we're in p-public.

Do you understand me?

The mini-mike definitely was very, very helpful.

I felt like I still had the support,

Which I definitely needed.

Thank you, joe. Push in your chair.

Mom did awesome on the mini-mike.

She had a good demeanor. She wasn't negative.

But knowing joe and how he behaves, only time will tell

[Roberta] okay, you guys did a good job. That was fun.

Coming up on "super-manny,"

Mike gets mom to reveal

Something painful about her past.

You didn't graduate from high school.

Did you want to?but I had to work. It was just my sister and i.

And later, brianna sees the trauma

Teen drinking can cause.when they found me,

My eye was completely hanging out of the socket.

[Mike] mom has made some real, real progress,

But I'm still concerned about her self-esteem.

I really wanted to try to make a breakthrough,

And I brought along a picture of mom in happier times

To show her.

[Laughs]tell me a little bit about this picture.

It's a terrible picture.

But you're smiling. And you saw that picture, and you smiled.

[Roberta] I started smiling immediately.

It brought happiness to my face.

And it just, like, seemed like I was...

I was happy then.

What happened from here to now?

Just a lot of--

I don't want to say responsibility,

But just a lot of stress.

[Mike] she has no self-esteem.

She feels b*at down from her life,

And she feels this may be the best she's gonna get.

You didn't graduate from high school.

Did you want to?yeah, but I had to work,

I mean, 'cause my--you know, we had to make--right.

It was just my sister and i.

I wanted to challenge mom

To do something she's always wanted to do--pass her g.e.d.,

Her high school equivalency test.

Is this something you want?

I guess it sort of falls down to self-esteem.

I don't think I can pass it.

Her sister had passed the g.e.d.,

And this is something she really wanted.

This not only gives her a chance to have more options

In her life, it gives her a chance to empower herself.

Just putting that effort in...mm-hmm.

Just like you want to show your kids.

I guess 'cause I was making accomplishments in my life then,

So maybe if I start...

Making accomplishments...

I'll feel better.

It's a lot of studying, but if you have time...

It may not be easy, but I'm gonna get you there.

♪♪

[Mike] the final task I had the family do

Before I left for a few days was to think about what kind

Of family they wanted to be, because without a goal,

It's hard to bring about lasting change.

Now what I want you guys to do on your pieces of paper is--

You guys can go wherever you want--

I want you guys to tell me what kind of family you want.

Wherever--come on, alex.

Separate. Go wherever you need.

Go on the wagon, dad!

Do you want a family that yells?

Do you want a nice, quiet family?

I want a happy family.

All right, so "I want"...

[Mike] I was really pleased

That mom took a long time to write her letter.

It showed me that she gave it some thought

About what she really, really wanted.

Mom and the kids finished their letters

And went inside the house, leaving dad outside

To collect his thoughts.

Dad's been bottling his emotions up for a while,

So my intent with this letter is to really give him

A chance to open up, and his family would see him

In a light that they had never seen him in before.

I had to leave the griswold family

For three days to give them a chance to do this without me.

This family needs to be more positive, positive, positive.

Mike, if this doesn't work, then we'll,

Then what happens?"If"? What do you mean, "if it"--it's working now.

[Brianna] no, it's gonna work. It's gonna work.it's working now.

You guys are still assuming every--

All the wheels are gonna fall off the cart.

Come here.

The kids reactions to me leaving

Really blew me away, especially lauren.

Um, lauren was a little teary-eyed.

Don't see a situation and go, "oh, wow, now we're back

To where we were," 'cause you're not.

You're not there. I'm proud of your effort,

And that effort needs to continue.

I'm really scared with mike gone

That my parents are gonna go back to the way we--they were.

[Whimpering]

[Roberta] alex, give mike a hug.

Don't worry, I'll--i'll... [Speaking indistinctly]

I'll be back.

I am nervous that mike's leaving

In the next few days,

But I have to-- I want to prove it to him

And prove it to myself that we can do it without him.

I'll see you in a few days.[Roberta] okay.

[Crying]

This is gonna be nothing but hard work for them,

Because that's what it's gonna take.

I'm afraid they're gonna revert back to their old selves.

Coming up on "super-manny,"

Joe and mom go crazy in the kitchen.

Sit down! I'm done with you!

No, we just had laundry backed up to...

And mike calls mom out on her attitude.

Yeah.you've got excuses after excuses after excuses.

[Mike] after three days being away,

I wasreallynervous about how the griswold family had done.

All right, I've been gone a couple days--

How do you guys think you did?pretty good.

Had our ups and downs.okay.

Here we go. Joe's time-out.

Look at, joe, this is not righ.

I did. I--mommy, I did!

Okay, you're yelling at me. I'm giving you a warning.

I didn't even yell at you!yes, you d.

You raised your voice at me.no, I didn!

Uhh!

Not only are you sitting there for seven minutes,

But your dirt bike is taken.

[Crying] mommy!i'm not talking to you right now.

You're currently in time-out.no!

You're making me

Very, very, very, very upset with you today.

Oh, my god.

Oh, you're--no, you didn't. Look what you did.

Sit down!

I'm done with you!

I was very upset.

I mean, he's destroying the house.

Okay, do you understand your role in how this got

Where it got.

You do not engage him.

So next time just ignore him?ignore him.

It's not supposed to be the funnest thing...okay.

In the world, but it needs to get done, okay?okay.

All right, mom's negativity.oh, gee.

You know what, joe? You're pushin' it with me today.

You're pushin' it with me.

Jeez, brianna.i'm tryin' to fix it.

You broke the door.how?

By slammin' it like that.i'm sorry.

Mom, you're yellin.what? Lauren, hush.

Negative,

Negative, negative.

You're bringin' medown.okay.

Seriously.[Sighs]

This is k*lling their spirits.i was...

You were nasty.so flipped out at this point in time,

You don't even understand.i-i hear you, and you're fighting me on this.

Well, no, we...yes, you are.

We just had laundry backed up to--yeah.

You've got excuses after excuses after excuses.

I want you to hear what I'm telling you

And agree with me, because it's the right thing.

[Knocking on table]i am telling you the right thing.

Okay. Mom studies.

I just came to tell you that I am going to study

For the night, so you have the kids.

By. Love you.

♪♪

We make a pile with the machine.

♪♪

Way to go, mom, studying. Way to go.

Look at--i love that smile. I want to see that smile more.mom studying.

Everybody was doing their share. This is what you've wanted.yeah. Yeah.

I was happy.all right, I'm seeing a lot-- a lot of good things.

I'm so proud of you right now, man.

You are steppin' up %, ,%.

Okay, grocery store.[Grunts]

[Roberta] I can't believe you just...

[Speaking indistinctly] [gasps] joseph!

That was then. This is now.

Please get a cart.

What is th? Peach melon.

Mommy, want one?brianna's gonna pick one out for me tonight, baby.

This one's the best.you don't need any.

You want to come look at the cheese with me, joe? Yeah.

Cheese.yeah, it's right over there.

Remember, be good.[Speaking indistinctly]

I think I saw you last week.thank you.

Yeah? You're very welcome, you guys.

Now wasn't that a lot better trip than the last time?definitely.

We didn't break anything.

"You're like a different little boy."

Mm-hmm.how does that make you feel?

Very good.now what we're still looking to do more

Is the verbal praise part, but more instead of stressing

Over what the negative would have been...mm-hmm.

Just really concentrating on the positives of that trip.

You really want them to see

How happy you are with their performance.

From here on in, you can focus on the positives,

Or you can focus on the negatives.

One is gonna change your family forever.

One is gonna keep you guys where you are.

Figure it out

Before it's too late.

We still have work to do.

♪♪

In spite of the griswolds' progress,

There was one more thing that I absolutely needed to do.

I had to give brianna a wake-up call,

Because earlier mom and dad had expressed some concern

About brianna's partying.

[Roberta] brianna had alcohol poisoning.

No alcohol at all.i know!

If we would've just let brianna go to sleep,

She would've never woke up.[Mike] since then,

I've uncovered some disturbing evidence on my own.

Oh, that's a keg.that is a keg. Whose keg is it?

Well, we had a party, my sister,

And that's what-- beer goes in there.

And were the parents invited to the party, or...

Uh, no, it was just the teenagers and us.

When joe showed me that keg, I got really concerned

About brianna's partying.

Teen drinking is no laughing matter,

And it can destroy lives.

Not only is it illegal, it's dangerous,

And parents can be held liable for what their children do.

You had an incident with alcohol a while ago, right,

Where you had some alcohol poisoning.

You're also at a point in your life

Where your friends are older, and they're gettin' to the point

Where they're gonna be of legally age--drinking age.

We just want to make sure that you have all the information

You can to make the best decisions you can make.

So I've gotten some people here to be able to talk to you.

And I'm gonna bring 'em in.[Woman] hi.

When I first saw that there were gonna be

People talking to me, I thought, this isn't for me.

My name is melissa. I am .

And I really started drinking when I was in college.

I always wanted to be the life of the party,

And I thought every day should be a party.

And there was a lot of binge drinking.

When she said it was sort of binge drinking,

I thought about my incident when I was just drinking,

'Cause I was at-- it was a social thing,

And my friends were doing it.

My son corey was in a car accident when he was .

Um, the driver was impaired.

And they flipped their car seven times

Going down the freeway at miles an hour.

And corey was ejected on the first roll.

They worked for two and a half hours to intubate him,

And he sat in a coma for a month and a half.

Corey now has to learn to live with seizures.

He can't have a job. He's on total disability.

He's gonna lose his sight by the time he's .

I was year old--years old

When I was in a car accident.

The driver had maybe one or two beers,

I mean, nothing you would think was really serious.

And he went to turn. It was going way too fast,

Slid right off the road and hit a rock.

And the car rolled into the river.

[Brianna] when kara showed me the pictures,

I just kept thinking about if that was me

That had made a choice like that...

I fractured my skull in nine different places.

When they found me,

My eye was completely hanging out of the socket.

How that could be me showing pictures to my friends

Or even my family showing them for me if I wasn't there.

Nice to meet all of you. Yeah, bye. Thank you.[Voices overlapping]

Thank you.thank you.

I wish you the best of luck, brianna. All right.[Voices overlapping]

[Mike] the speakers were the first part my plan.

Mom and dad need to take a more active role

In discouraging brianna's drinking.

Mom and dad need to know

Where brianna is and who she's with.

So that's why I introduced the parent-child contract.

Dad, we're gonna sign the contract.

We're gonna write out what that contrat--contract is.

And what it is is if you're a a party,

And you know you can't get home on your own,

You can call your parents at any time.

And they are gonna come and get you, no questions asked.

How do you want to do this? How do you want to state it?

She needs to be writing.here we go.

[Roberta] for brianna to actually write out the contract,

It really sunk in that, "hey, my parents really do love me.

They really do care for me ."

If there's nothing else you guys want to add,

Can you please sign your names?

[Allan speaking indistinctly]

[Brianna] the contract does make me feel safe,

Because it feels like my parents and I

Rely on each other more and more.

Coming up on "super-manny,"

The griswolds literally aren't out of the woods.

You guys are gonna be spending the next two days

At this mountain.wild animals out here.

Will mike's surprise make them...

It's slippery, so please be careful.

Or break them?

♪♪

♪♪

[Mike] with baby alex at grandma's house,

I had the family meet me at the base of a nearby mountain.

I had something really exciting waiting for them.

Because this family doesn't work very well as a team,

I wanted to do something that would either drive them apart

Or bring them closer together.

[Mike] do you see this vast and dense forest?

Yeah.today, you guys are gonna climb it.

Oh, my god.climb what?

You're going to climb this--this mountain.

Okay, led by--all of us?

Led by mom and dad--oh, there's no way in a day.

You can do this.

I knew this test was gonna be particularly challenging

For mom because of her negativity.

She didn't believe she could do this at all.

You guys are gonna have to stay positive...[Lauren] positive!

Roberta!there's wild animals out here.

Stay positive.it's gonna take the act of god to get up that hill.

There's five backpacks

And gear.[Allan] all right.

[Mike] I felt I needed to give the family a tough test,

Because I wanted to see if they would come together

Under the pressure.

They need to know now that they can do this.

Come on, get your stuff. Let's go.[Voices overlapping]

[Roberta] we have to have water, or we'll die.[Brianna] oh, my god.

It's bigger than a child.[Mike] all right, here we go.

Mom, you got the compass and the map?[Voices overlapping]

I definitely had my doubts that my mom

Would make it the whole way.

We're fine. We're not lost.

[Allan] I know.don't be negative. We're going up the hill.

We're all in this together. Is that thing stable?

Yes, it's stable. Just reach for my hand.

Please?[Mike] all right, good trust.

[Brianna] good job, mom.good.

We camp right here.

[Allan groans]what? We camp right there?

Look at--down here.no.

[Mike] mom, don't be negative.i don't think so.

[Mike] once mom got to the campsite,

I saw her jaw drop, and I didn't want her to get negative.

So I had to step in, and I really had to give her

Some guidance and some direction.

Every time something has changed here,

Y-you've gone with the flow,

So let's keep going with the flow.

[Roberta] okay, I'm thinking what to do.

There you go. Good. That's what we want.

[Roberta] I was like, "roberta, you gotta pull it together.

"There's no time for any of this. You better get positive,

And you'd better get strong." And so I pulled myself together.

Are you hungry, joe?no, I just want to go home.

Why? We've been wanting to go camping,

And this is gonna be fun.

But I don't have to go, too.

We're gonna make some hot dogs and--i want to go fishing.

Well, we didn't bring a fishing pole.

But that's okay. This is what we're gonna do.

We're gonna make s'mores. We're gonna make hot dogs.[Speaking indistinctly]

It's gonna be fun. Maybe we can tell some stories.

[Mike] she's more positive. She still needs a lot of work,

But she's--she's hopeful, and I think that's something

She hasn't been in a long time.

It's a dome tent.

Honey, hold on. Hold on.[Voices overlapping]

Finally the moment I'd been waiting for had arrived--

Something I'd wanted to do for the family

Since I first got here.

Uh, I asked you guys a while ago, when I first got here,

To fill out these letters.

I asked you to tell me

With your own words

What kind of family you guys wanted.

And you guys have come so far.

And now you guys get to tell each other

What you were hoping for,

And what you were thinking about.

So, joe, why don't you come on over here?

"I want a happy family."

"I want to test so our family could bond together

And believe in one another and create unity."

"We all have all the love a family needs.

"We just need to somehow find respect.

"That is my dream family,

And somehow we will find this."

[Whispering] thank you.

"I would," uh... [Sighs]

Take your time. Take your time, man.

"I would like my family to love and respect each other"...

[Clears throat]

"Brianna--i would love for her to reach out

For the stars and"...

"And be the--the superstar

That she was always supposed to be."

"I would wish joe to erase all the"... [Clears throat]

"Monstrous thoughts...

"That he has of me.

"And I want to teach him

The ways of becoming a young man."

"Lauren--the fragile flower

I want to water properly"...

"So she continues to grow."

"Alex--the new-- the new beginning"...

"I really, really don't want to mess him up."

[Allan] the letters really broke my heart.

I felt the circle

Come completely together.

It was a big change and a big moment

That was just-- it was overwhelming.

"Roberta, the love and support of my life"...

"They help make my life, the griswold family."

♪♪

[Whispering] all right.

[Lauren] I love you, dad. I love you, dad.

The new griswold family. How do you like 'em?

[Allan] I love you.i love you, daddy.

I love you.

This is by far the hardest part of the job,

'Cause now I have to leave.

I just want to let you guys know

That I couldn't have been prouder of any of family

Than i-i am of you.

I want to thank you guys for hearing

Everything that i-i tried to tell you

And then puttin' it into play.

[Roberta] he's taught us how to love each other again.

He's taught us a lot.

Thank you.

Without him, I don't think we could have done

Everything we did, 'cause he really, really helped us a lot.

[Indistinct conversation]

Thanks for helping my family, mike.

[Whispering] I'm proud of you.[Speaking indistinctly]

Mike has made my family more loving

And happier and calmer.

[Whispering indistinctly]

[Allan] I'm not really good on good-byes.

It hurts, uh, to-- to see mike go.

[Roberta] thank you for everything.

You've changed our family.

And...

We'll miss you, and we love you.

♪♪