06x02 - The Simmons Family

[bunniefuu]

Tonight on "supernanny"... No!

Jo visits the simmons family in virginia.

[Yelling] mom and dad are being run ragged...

Oh! With sets of twins under .

You... Aah!

No!

Powered by a diet of sugar, candy and soda...

Parker, how many cookies did you eat? How many did you eat?

These kids are totally out of control.

Dad's a complete wimp...

Don't start hitting and stuff.

And mom's a total pushover. You're gonna get tough,

And you're gonna deal with these kids.

Can jo teach mom and dad how to regain control?

Bring her back in.[Whines]

Or will these kids shut them down?

♪ Be good, be good ♪

♪ Be good, be good, be good ♪

♪ Be good, be good, be good ♪

♪ Be good, be good, be good ♪ ♪ johnny ♪

♪ Be good, be good, be good ♪

♪ Be good, be good, be good ♪

♪ Be good, be good, be good ♪

♪ Be good, be good, be good ♪ ♪ johnny ♪

♪ Johnny ♪

Well, it's my first time here in richmond, virginia,

And I'm about to take a look at a family that needs my help.

Hi, we're the simmons family, and I'm debra... I'm tracy.

And we have four kids. [Popping]

[Yells] we have two sets of twins.

Payton and sophia are , and parker and sydney are .

Ahh! When there's two sets of twins,

It's almost like it's exponentially more

Than just four against two. [Yelling]

Double trouble, look at that-- two sets of twins.

Sophia definitely seems like a teenager already.

I don't know. I didn't! Keep the door open.

Payton is... [Grunting]

Defiant.

Sydney is... Aah!

Volatile. No! No.

Go. No. No.

Parker--h-he likes to get his way. No.

Put on the shirt.

Aah, aah! You're not gonna get it!

No! No! No!

You...

Aah! Ow.

I'm a stay-at-home mom.mom.

Stop. [Debra] it is hard to enjoy being around...

Sophia. The kids.

No! I think they just w-wear you down

And b*at the life out of you.

I'm talking about getting into your room

And staying in your room.

All right, I'll be in my office.

My office is in my home, and a lot of times

If I'm in my office and they're upstairs,

It just sounds like a herd of elephants running.

Watch out! Aah!

You guys need to settle down!

When it comes to discipline,

I have, like, this attempt... Out.

And then I just-- I just give up.

Stop slamming the door. Stop. Stop.

Don't. Stop. No.

My word, look, every time they draw a line in the sand,

The kids just wipe it out.

Discipline is--we're not consistent with it at all.

Parker, please, seriously. Parker.

Ohh, parker. Why don't you guys make your beds? How about that?

[Both] no! Yes.

No! No! No!

[Both chanting] no! Why don't you make your bed?

No! Why don't you make your bed?

You don't talk like that. Get out of here now!

Get out.

Get--get out.

Get out.

Get--get out.

Why are you being naughty? Get out.

Oh, this is like "groundhog day."

This man keeps repeating himself,

And the kids ain't listenin'. Ow! Ow!

Hey, what are you doing? The way they operate,

All four of them could be getting in trouble... [Both] no, no, no, no, no.

Oh, no! Aah! And they feed off of each other.

They absolutely feed off of each other.

Come on. No! No!

Aah!

Aah!

Uh! Uh! Give me it now!

Unlock the door.

You have to the count of three to unlock the door.

One... Two... Three.

Okay, parker, now you're in trouble.

Well, that's a good way to avoid discipline, right?

Just lock the doors. Open the door.

[Man] open the door. Yes. Open the door.

[Debra] I guess I wish I could just figure out

How to juggle everything. [Cries]

Being a mom and not feeling like I can--i can do my job.

No! Yep. Hold on.

No!

And how do I manage all four of them

And cooking and cleaning

And doing everything else at the same time?

Stop. [Shouting]

Payton, put your pajamas on!

Supernanny, come on, it's two against four.

We need your help. [Knocking on door]

Oh! Hey, mom and dad,

I know you got your hands full with double trouble,

So I'm on my way.

♪♪♪

Hello. Hello.

Pleased to meet you. Jo frost.

I'm debra simmons. Hi, debra.

As jo was coming into my house, I was a little nervous

Because I know that she can be tough.

Hi. Hi, I'm tracy.

Very nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Jo.

After I met the family, dad went off to work,

And whilst mom was trying to serve lunch,

The two sets of twins were going wild.

Ow! Ow! Kick him off!

Sydney, get off the table.

Stop... It... Now.

Mom didn't seem interested

In trying to impose any discipline whatsoever.

[Laughing] yes, you're gonna get...

Parker, stop throwing my shoe.

[Jo] throwing shoes and not minding mom at all.

Um, that's not a good start.

That is enough.

Parker, stop.

Stop. [Sophia] mommy, I can--

[Jo] I saw that mom couldn't control

The two sets of twins' behavior.

So then when dad tried to do it,

I saw that he couldn't do it either.

He's trying to hit me with that thing!

Hey, parker, we don't do that.

He told me i-- get--get down of off that. Guys.

Do you want to get rid of that thing?

Sydney. Okay, guys.

This is getting old. Parker.

No, payton, please get down. [Boy shrieking]

He begs the children to be quiet.

Please. No.

Can you--can you guys just be good? Aah!

And they look at him and laugh...

Sydney, don't do it again.

And then ignore him and carry on doing

What they were doing in the first place.

Come on, sydney, please.

I mean, it really is this whining tone... Sydney.

Kinda like a broken record really.

Can you stay down off of that? No.

Please? Please? [Record needle scratches]

Please? Okay, sydney, come on.

Dad finally decided to do some discipline,

But his idea of a time-out

Was pleading.

Now don't kick. Don't-- don't even start that.

Please. Please.

You want to go in the closet? Okay.

[Whines][sighs]

No. Sit right there,

And I'll let you know when you can come out.

[Pounding on door]

I just at that moment, thought,

Well, where's mom in all this chaos?

I just kind of peeked into the bathroom area,

And mom was hiding. I'm hiding.

You're hiding. Where it's quiet.

To have what, your breakfast? Um, just a snack.

I usually hide from the kids when I eat,

Just so I can have a little peace and quiet.

What have you got there, some fr--uh, fruit? Uh, and yogurt.

Oh, nice. Healthy.yeah.

I found mom hiding out, eating in the bathroom.

So that she could get a few minutes of peace!

No, now don't. Don't-- don't start hitting and stuff.

[Grunts] parker.

Okay, then, parker. [Door shuts]

No one's gonna share their toys with you

If that's how you want to act.

Tracy,

Why are you talking to parker through a door?

He locked the door on me.

No child should be able to lock themselves into their bedroom

And--and keep out everybody else.

These kids are far too young, far too young.

Coming up on "supernanny,"

The kids' sugar high turns sour.[Grunts]

And jo sets mom and dad straight. So now your kids

Can lock themself away from their parents.

If there was a fire, then what? We'd have to scramble.

Scramble? You can't scramble when there's a fire.

You'd be kicking that door down.

When "supernanny" returns.

♪♪♪

What kind of foods do the kids like to eat?

What kind of things do you prepare for 'em?

They like, um, like, the dino chicken... Yep.

Mini corn dogs... Yeah.

Macaroni and cheese. Yeah.

They're not really too fast on fruit and veg and stuff? No.

[Jo] when mom served dinner,

I saw she wasn't exaggerating.

These kids sat down at the table

And they weren't even eating what they should have been.

Where's the healthy food plan?

Do you particularly like to cook or--or not really?

I do. I mean, some people don't like it. You do.

I love to cook. You love to cook, right.

Mom! Mom! Mom just wasn't instilling her healthy eating habits,

And I want to know why.

[Child screams] what is the response that you get?

I don't like-- I don't like that.

Right. I'm not gonna eat that. I'm not gonna try that.

Right. It could be my own macaroni and cheese.

Yeah. It's not from the box.

Right. You know, the chicken's not shaped like a dinosaur.

After their kids had their fill

Of what mom had put out there,

It was time for dessert.

Their end goal

Is to get through dinner as fast as possible

So they can get dessert,

And really as much as they can possibly hold.

Cookies.

There's four more left, guys.

Parker, how many cookies did you eat?

How many did you have?

What about you, sydney?

[Mumbles]

One, two, three, go!

The kids really should have been winding down after dinner,

But when dad took 'em upstairs,

They were still very lively.

Stop! That hurts! [Tracy] parker!

Parker can get-- I wo--i won't say violent

For a year old, but, I mean, h-he gets very upset.

Parker was having a meltdown,

And dad was back to being a broken record again.

Stop, parker.

What is wrong with you?

[Grunting]

Okay. That's crazy.

Now stop it. Stop it.

Stop it, parker.

Honestly. Ow!

No discipline, locked doors

And bad eating habits--

I've got plenty of food for thought

On this family.

It's time for me to leave.

Tomorrow morning, we will be having a discussion.

These parents do know what they need to correct.

Good night. Good night.

Good night. I just think that they're waiting for somebody

To give 'em a kick up the backside and, uh,

Give them some motivation to get on with it, you know?

Well, I want to address the importance

Of the issues that you're going through

And what I've noticed

So that we can get to the bottom of some of those, okay? Okay.

Okay. So can we talk about discipline?

Sure. Sure.

Okay, who does what and when and for how long? Yeah, no.

There is no consistency. There's no follow-through.

There's, uh, there's empty threats,

And that's it.

Well, the thing is, you--you guys lack

Making a decision.

That's true.

Tracy, i-i don't know how you listen to your voice all day

Because every minute

You are telling the children over and over again

To stop doing something. Yeah.

Look, you see this?

This was-- this was made by you.

[Laughing] okay, this was made by tracy.

It's the record that says over and over

And over and over again,

"Payton, don't do that.

Sydney, stop doing that."

You're like a broken record if I could snap this thing.

Here, take that-- a broken record.

We need to stop this, okay?

When it comes to actually stepping up

And telling these kids, no, no is no... Mm-hmm.

No, it's--doesn't-- doesn't a bit.

Now why is that?

Like, I don't think I know how to--to do that,

Not effectively. And then I go upstairs in the house

And there are locks on the doors.

So now your kids can lock themself away

From their parents. That's not a good thing.

You should always be able to go into your child's bedroom.

If there was a fire, then what? Mm.

We'd have to scramble to find a key 'cause there's normally--

Scramble? You can't scramble when there's a fire.

You'd be kicking that door down or at least trying to. Yeah.

I mean, it--it's-- it's not common sense,

The pair of you, it's really not.

The fact that they can just lock that door--

And let's face it, they're locking that door

Against the pair of you when they don't want to hear...

Mm-hmm. What you have to say or they can't get their own way,

They lock the door and use it.

I mean, that should never happen.

We can change that. That's true. Yeah.

What I want to go on to next is mealtimes,

Because this is when I'm seeing no common sense.

There's no logic behind what you do really.

They pretty much dictate what they want to eat.

And for an easy life, you say, "okay, fine."

But actually, it's not an easy life,

Not when I'm watching the kids eat the amount of the food

That they ate yesterday that didn't even consist

Of one piece of fruit or one piece of vegetable.

If you're gonna give your kids food that high in fat

And sodium and sugar, their blood sugar level is gonna peak.

You're gonna get, like, a -minute spurt,

And then the kid's are gonna come down,

They're gonna need that raised again.

I'm hoping one of you two are gonna justify why that happens.

I just don't want to hear it.

I don't want to hear the whining and the complaining

About what I put in front of them.

You and million other parents. [Laughs]

But sometimes as parents,

You have to do the things that you don't want to do.

Mm-hmm. Right.

What I'm hearing is you guys saying

The same thing over and over again and no results.

Well, guess what, we gotta change the results, right?

Which means we gotta change.

So I look forward to seeing you guys very soon

Because, uh, you're gonna be rolling up your sleeves

And working hard.

Thank you. Good, thank you.

Coming up on "supernanny,"

Parker goes into overdrive.

[Roars] and will jo get through to mom?

You're gonna get tough,

And you're gonna deal with these kids.

Do you know why? 'Cause these kids

Are gonna carry on like that and walk over you.

When "supernanny" returns.

♪♪♪

Oh, with parents not knowing how to discipline,

It was my first priority. [Sophia] jo jo!

Hello![Kids] jo jo!

Hey, jo. Good morning, tracy.

And I need to make sure that these kids

Are not locking themselves away from their parents.

The first thing I do want to do is to change these locks

On the kids' doors, okay?

As you can see, no locks on these. Okay.

Those kids do use the locks, whether it's in the bathroom

Or it's in their bedrooms, to keep us out.

So it's definitely a good thing

To get rid of those locks.

Okay, it works.

[Jo] I expect these parents, as they become older,

To have some etiquette and to knock on the door

And, you know, to ask before they can come in,

And that's something that they'll grow into as a family.

But at the moment, they're-- they're all young children,

And I believe that parents exercise the right to be able

To go into their children's room

And to make sure that they're okay. Yeah.

Now that his kids can't lock themselves away,

It's time for me to put a discipline technique in place.

I'm gonna use a reflection room for all four kids.

And leave the door open whilst they're thinking in there.

Whilst dad was out playing with the children...

[Tracy] there you go. Look.

Mom helped me set up the reflection room.

This is gonna be the reflection room,

Which is gonna be your time-out, okay?

I call it the reflection room

Because, you know, i-it's about the kids reflecting

Of what they've done so they start to recognize

That you're gonna put some very firm boundaries in place.

I'm gonna ask you to clear the crayon area in a moment...

Okay. 'Cause the reflection room is--is a boring room.

It means we're here alone just not doing anything

While the rest of the kids are out having fun and playing.

Okay, I'll clean up. But before we'd even finished,

Parker gave her a good reason to use it.

[Parker crying]

What is it? Before you rip his hand off, sophia!

I want my shoe thing!

Parker, that is sophia's toy.

I want to play with the toy!

You're going downstairs to sit in the reflection room.

Do you hear me?

Don't--and you don't hit!

Don't kick.

Don't kick. [Gasps] [whining]

You have to stay in here for five minutes... Stop.

Because you did not ask sophia if you could take her toy,

And then once she wanted it back, you threw it.

Parker, stop! Come out.

[Grunts]

[Roars]

[Jo] just getting parker into the room

Took a lot out of mom,

And I didn't really know whether she would follow through

With discipline, so I took her aside to talk to her,

And that's when she broke down.

Inside I can see it. I can see how emotional you are inside.

Right? I can see that inside you. [Kids arguing indistinctly]

You're gonna get tough,

And you're gonna deal with these kids. You know why?

'Cause these kids are gonna carry on like that

And walk over you.

And I know that you've got that mental strength

To deal with that.

They're gonna find respect for you. You know why?

Because you are a loving mother.

You are a mother who wants to do best by your kids.

I do.

After the talk, she got an apology from parker.

She'd done it.

Parker, I need an apology.

Here, buddy.

But it wasn't long

Before parker would start all over again.

Mommy gave you a warning,

And you're continuing to disrupt the game.

[Jo] this time I suggested that parker

Do his time-out in the kitchen,

So that mom could keep an eye on the kids in the backyard.

That boy pulled every trick out of his hat

To push mom's buttons.

[Jo] um, just take him back to the door,

And his five minutes have to start all over again.

Take him back. [Debra] he definitely wanted to get my attention.

He definitely wanted me to respond to him.

Ignoring parker when he is in that zone

And in the time-out, it--that's very hard.

It's very frustrating.

♪♪♪

[Jo] the other kids came inside, and that's when mom decided

To put parker back into the reflection room,

And he went absolutely mad.

[Roars]

♪♪♪

Parker was so mad

That he became very destructive

And started to tear up everything in that room.

It seemed like it took forever, and it was exhausting,

But I knew I had to stick with it

Because I can outdo them.

They're not gonna get the better of me.

Parker.

Can you apologize to mommy? Sorry.

Mom's gonna have more challenges like this,

But if she remains consistent, then the kids

Are gonna realize pretty quickly she means business.

Next on the discipline agenda

Was mending dad's broken record.

Okay, this is what I hear.

[Whiny voice] payton, don't do that.

Get--get down off of that. Guys.

Sydney. Oh, parker. Payton, please get down.

Aah! I'm not even on--

[Normal voice] voices project well in the shower,

And so I decided to give dad

A fun vocal coaching session there.

What you want to be able to do

Is to slow your speech pattern down, okay?

You need to behave yourself.

You need to behave yourself.

Here, look, come down. Come down so you're giving me eye contact.

And even if your head is slightly tilted,

You're looking at them like this--

Behave yourself right now,

Otherwise you're going into time-out.

Try that. Behave yourself right now,

Otherwise you're going into time-out.

Dad's made some progress, but the real test is gonna be

In a real-life situation.

Sydney, if you're gonna be outside,

You gotta have some shoes on, okay?

[Jo] later on in the afternoon,

I saw sydney starting to play up,

And that would be when dad would use the reflection room

And hopefully a firm voice, too.

I went over again with dad

How to use discipline properly

And his firm voice...

I then want you to go over to her,

Give her eye contact, come down to her level

And really lower your tone.

And sent him back to deal with sydney.

Okay, so here we go. [Tracy] I knew

It was going to be a battle because it's sydney.

I mean, she's so strong-willed.

If you want to be outside, you need to have shoes on,

Or you're gonna go sit in time-out.

Sydney. [Laughs]

I just thought, oh, boy, here we go.

Stop!

She was fightin' and clawing every step of the way.

No! Got her into the room

And pretty much knew it was a long battle.

Come down and say to her, you did not listen to dad,

And so you're staying in here. Sydney, you--

[Screams] sydney, you did not listen to daddy

So you're gonna stay in here.

This time, dad was gonna draw the line

And stay put.

No!

Bring her back in.

Sit--don't worry about that.

[Jo] dad started to panic.

I mean, this man really does sweat when he gets nervous.

It was far from over. [Pounding on door]

Coming up on "supernanny"...

Aah! Will dad finally show sydney who's in charge?

No! No!

Get out of here! Or will she show him the door?

When "supernanny" returns.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Okay, so no communication,

And you just literally continue where you were.

No! No! No!

[Whining]

Dad was using the discipline technique for the first time.

However, sydney--hmm.

She did not like it.

[Whining]

Get out of here!

I was kind of worn out myself,

And i-i think sydney had kind of worn down as well.

After sydney did finally stay in the room for four minutes,

Dad did the last steps of the technique,

By making sure he explained what she did wrong

And asking her for an apology.

Sydney. [Clears throat]

The reason you were in here, sydney,

Is because you wouldn't listen.

You need to apologize to daddy for not listening, sydney.

So lift her up, give her a hug and a kiss. Come here, sweetie.

[Tracy] in the past, the--the kids always did win

When it came to discipline...

I love you.

And today, for once, I won the battle.

The line has been drawn.

There is a line. It will not move.

All right, we've done the hugs and the kiss.

All right, no grudges, okay?

Let's just move on. Let's enjoy the fun. Let's go play.

The kids are out playing cards.

You want to play go fetch?

[Jo] is it the last of sydney? I-i don't think so.

I think sydney's gonna give 'em another run for their money,

But if I can really have the opportunity

To teach mom and dad to have a backbone,

Then it's gonna be good for them when I'm not there.

You gonna play go fetch? Just let me guess.

All right, debra, come and stand over here.

Next was to tackle that terrible food plan,

And I saw that mom had a big box of recipes,

So it was about time we started to use 'em.

We're going to muscle in to all of these recipes books.

You're going to pick out some really healthy options,

All right, and you're gonna come up with seven meals,

And you're gonna place each meal

Into one of these triangles.

I eat healthy,

But I don't provide that for the kids.

And you love to cook so, I mean, once you start-- I do.

I mean, look at all this lovely root vegetables. Look!

[Debra] I think I will have to force them

To eat different things

Because they're not used to eating that way,

But it's definitely worthwhile. [Jo] to get the kids involved,

The triangles became a part of the meal wheel game.

And what we're gonna do is

Each one of you are gonna get a chance

To choose a meal by spinning the meal,

And then it will be on a certain night. I love that wheel,

The food wheel that jo brought in. Who's gonna go first?

It got them involved, got them excited about eating that food.

Okay, who's next? Spin the meal!

[Laughing]

[Parker] sophia's is gonna be...

Mm, one of my favorites.

All right, parker, what you got?

All right. Grilled fish.

One of your favorites, parker. Ooh, that's really good.

Oh, you've chose your favorite. Okay, grilled fish.

[Speaking indistinctly]

We have--what do we have there?

"Grilled chicken, sweet potatoes and vegetables."

And...

"Fruit dessert."Mm-hmm.

[Grunts] so now we've chosen.

The only thing left to do right now

Is to go and shop for this food,

So we're gonna go off to the farmers' market,

All right, and we're gonna do a little bit of shopping,

And we're gonna do a little bit of tasting as well. Yeah!

Who's ready to go to the farmers' market? Me!

All right, let's go then.

When we went to the farmers' market,

I wasn't really sure how that was going to go.

We're gonna go around very slowly,

And we're gonna start to sample things that we like, okay?

The biggest thing is that they have to be enthusiastic

About their children trying different fruits and veg.

Let's try one of these.

It's really important to just be very eager.

Let them sample, then they start to tell you

About what they like and what they don't.

Do you like this? You do?

Sydney, is that a thumbs-up? [Debra] thumbs-up?

That's a thu--that's a two--oh! She gave me a two thumbs-up. No!

[Jo] the kids tried different fruits.

They had raw vegetables. What do you think?

Good.you see? And you know what you just said?

You said, "I don't want to try it!" But, look, you like it!

Oh, we gotta get sweet potatoes. Sweet po--

[Jo] for some parents, it's really problematic

To get their kids to eat fruit, vegetables

And a healthy eating plan, but with some good organization

And getting the kids really engaged and interested,

It is possible.

Buy mango. [Tracy] you like the mango.

[Debra] my grilled chicken. It's wonderful to see that. It really is.

[Laughing] [sophia] but hers is-- where'd you find that?

I spent a whole day really working hard

Transforming their thoughts about food,

But the real test was gonna be at dinnertime.

Okay, do you guys want milk or water?

Milk. This is my cup.

[Tracy] the last time we ate with our kids

And enjoyed the experience,

I honestly don't remember.

Who's ready for chicken? [Payton] me!

[Sydney] me! [Tracy] just to see all the variety of food

And that we all were going to sit down to the table

And eat at the same time--

It made it feel like a family again.

[Jo] keep an eye on parker,

Because he's not eating some of the chicken. [Tracy] oh, be very--

If he's gonna have some of the mango,

Have it with the chicken as well--

A piece of mango, piece of chicken. I am doing that.

You are? Good job then. That's what I want to see.

[Mouthing words] you need to eat your chicken then, parker.

Let's eat some more chicken first.

As the meal wore on, sydney started to lose interest,

And it was up to mom to set her straight.

Can you take bites out of this one? No.

Can you finish that? [Jo] can you? Can you?

But hear the difference between telling and asking.

There's a choice. Can you? No.

Finish off the pepper.

Eat the rest of that pepper.

Please sit in your chair

And eat the rest of the paper--pepper.

You're not gonna get down, sydney, you're not gonna play.

Sit. And then you've told her,

So then you just let go of it and you continue to eat.

She can decide.

And eventually sydney listened to mom

And decided just to get on with it.

[Tracy] sydney, did you just finish off that pepper? Yep.

No way. [Jo] it was a complete turnaround.

Watching this family eat at dinnertime.

They'd gone from junk

To really healthy options.

Dinner was over,

But so was my time teaching this family for several days.

So there's, uh, lots for you guys to be getting on with

Whilst I'm away. You've got discipline.

Tracy, certainly your voice. I'm gone for three days.

Don't forget what you've been taught,

Because it's necessary that you use it.

I know that it works,

And I know that there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

I hope that we don't let anything

Fall through the cracks. Good night.

Good night. Good night.

Mom and dad sure have a lot on their plates,

But I'm particularly worried

Whether mom's going to remember it all.

I just hope these guys can do it without me.

We're in trouble.[Laughs]

Coming up on "supernanny,"

Parker kicks off.

Will mom finally flex her muscle?

Parker, you're sitting in time-out

Because you would not listen.

When "supernanny" returns.

What's the best way

To get your child to eat what you serve at mealtimes?

A--give them a couple of choices

Before you decide what to serve.

B--stop snacks at least one hour before mealtimes.

C--make them sit at the table

Until they're ready to eat what you've made.

Find out the answer when we return.

♪♪♪

What's the best way

To get your child to eat what you serve at mealtimes?

A--give them a couple of choices

Before you decide what to serve.

B--stop snacks at least one hour before mealtimes.

C--make them sit at the table

Until they're ready to eat what you've made.

The answer is b,

Stop snacks at least one hour before mealtime.

Keep an eye on the time,

That way, they'll arrive at the table with an appetite,

Ready to eat what's in front of them,

Which is always a good thing.

It's only been a few days, but I am eager to see

How the simmons family have done without me.

[Whispers] the silence.

I'm afraid.

[Normal voice] really? I am.

Let's have a look.

Stop!

Payton, move. [Whines]

Payton, I'm asking you right now to move.

Payton! Stop!

Stop! Go!

You have to stop acting that way, payton.

Let me hear an apology.

Sorry. There.

No. Sorry. There.

That is not an apology, payton.

"Sorry. There."

Tell me what you saw there that could have been corrected.

Payton's apology,

Uh, could've been,

Um, a better apology.

The apology didn't come genuine,

And in that case,

You were then supposed to walk out and say,

"Well, if you can't apologize sincerely,

Then actually you can stay in here and calm down,"

Because you could see he was still angry. Mm-hmm.

And that's when you're to walk out and give it,

Like, , seconds and then go back in.

And then in the beginning, you actually didn't go over

And give him a warning--

"I'm telling you right now stop this behavior.

Otherwise I'll be putting you into the reflection room." Mm-hmm.

So let's take a look at the next clip here.

What do you want to drink?

Milk, water?

I want some pop. We don't have pop anymore.

Daddy and I dumped it out. Why?

'Cause it's not good for you.

Drink that water.

I'm very pleased to see that.

Much needed, and I'm sure you've noticed a difference as well. Mm-hmm.

Yes, we have. Never be afraid to tell your kids why.

You know, that it is high in sugar.

That there are lots of additives, preservatives.

Let them know that the choices that you're making for them

Are healthier ones because you--you care about

What they are drinking, what they are eating, all right? Okay.

[Clears throat] so we'll move on to dad's voice.

I'm it.

Payton, stop throwing the pillows at sydney.

Come over here and sit down.

I-if you're playing, get your feet in there right now.

If you're not playing, we're gonna start

And you-- you will be left out.

You can make a choice as to how you want to play the game.

If you want to play the game right,

You make the choice.

Very good. Look at you!

You've been going to the restroom a lot!

You've been singing in that shower! I'm living in there.

Have you heard him singing in the shower?

Straightaway, you nipped that in the bud.

You came right down with your tone of voice.

You slowed your speech pattern down.

Absolutely fantastic.

Well done, tracy. I mean, absolutely brilliant. Thank you.

You've done really well there.

Okay, mom, let's take a look at yours. [Debra] payton, quiet.

Sophia, what are you playing? Please tell them.

Sydney, stop yelling.no!

What happened, parker? Sydney!no!

Payton, no throwing.

Sophia. Sydney. Payton.

Payton. Sydney.

Keep your hands and your feet to yourself.

Sydney, what did I just tell you?

I've got a record you can borrow.

All right. I think I've got my own.

We need to work on the voice big-time, debra, okay?

I know. I s--ugh. And, um, how are we gonna do that?

Well, you've done such a great job.

You're gonna teach your wife. All right.

There are lots of things

That we need to really

Tighten up and tweak

With regards to your voice, your posture.

Mom needs to step up. She does.

She needs to become more assertive,

Take ahold of those reins, because if she doesn't,

She will go back to square one very, very quickly.

So let's get cracking

'Cause we still have lots of work to do, all right?

Thank you.

Coming up on "supernanny,"

When parker tests her limits...

Get away from me, butthead.

Mom breaks down. [Jo] don't get upset with yourself.

Don't--don't get angry with yourself.

When "supernanny" returns.

♪♪♪

[Payton] whoa! After the dvd meeting,

I knew that mom needed more coaching with her voice...

Go play for a minute while we talk.

And as I previously already helped dad,

I enlisted his help.

Basically, everything that you learn... Mm-hmm.

From me, you're actually gonna teach each other,

And it just helps you to feel supported by one another.

So I had tracy take mom up to the shower

And do some voice training.

What we just practiced doing was just talking deeper.

We also practiced, like, getting down to their level.

So we would just get down like this.

It helps to bring your voice down a little bit.

And then just, you know-- don't do that or y--

Else you're going to time-out.

Don't do that or else you're going to time-out.

I thought--i thought it was crazy.

Why am I getting in the shower?

And why did he get in the shower with jo?

Kinda goofy at first, but...

And--and--and you're all about slowing down and talking deeper

And really getting their attention.

I mean, 'cause it was like... [Whines]

You know, where I was just whining all the time.

So practice that again. Parker... [Lowers voice] parker.

[Normal voice] but it definitely worked.

I could hear myself.

Parker, get over here right now.

That was good.

And, you know, after that I could use it.

I can bring back that voice that I needed.

What do you think?[Laughs]

Try it out in the real world. There we go.

[Debra] parker, no. [Parker whines]

Just a few minutes later,

Mom got a chance to put that new voice into practice.

Oh, surprise, surprise.

Parker was playing up again.

Parker. No.

[Debra] immediately, parker started acting up.

I just thought, there is just no rest.

Parker, you have a choice.

No, no choice. He has a warning.

So your tone of voice is without--

It's absolute. It's with conviction.

[Jo] what I need debra to be is more assertive.

We want these children to recognize

That mom is not a pushover.

No. Parker, you're sitting in time-out

Because you would not listen, and I asked you.

This is your time-out spot. [Grunting]

[Debra] you have to be on,

And you have to be prepared to turn it on

And so I just sucked it up and did it.

No. Get away from me, butthead.

[Grunting]

Where she placed parker at to do his time-out,

He knew--he knew she wasn't messing around.

Now when he's done his four minutes,

You're gonna go over to him with the same firm voice. Okay.

You need to tell me you're sorry.

Remember, it's all about your body posture,

You're upright, you're confident, you're assertive,

And you're taking care of this.

You're taking care of it

Because you are not going to be a pushover. [Timer beeping]

You're gonna be assertive in the way you address him. Okay.

Off you go.

Parker, I put you in time-out because you did not listen.

Parker, you need to apologize. Sorry.

A sincere apology is where he's gonna give you the eye contact.

If he doesn't do that, then walk away.

I could see that this discipline process

Was really taking its toll on mom,

And when I just took her to the side,

All this emotion just came to the top.

You're doing this beautifully.

This is a complete turnaround.

Completely. Do you feel different?

I do, and I think the dvd was an eye-opener,

Looking at myself. Okay, good.

I mean, she broke down.

Don't be upset with yourself.

Don't--don't get angry with yourself. You learned from it.

That's what's good about it. You learned from it.

That's a good thing. [Timer beeping]

Right? You changed it. That's a good thing.

That's a good thing, right?right.

No passive, no passive. Assertive.

Okay. Okay? Assertive.

Parker, I need that apology.

She walked with purpose.

She spoke with conviction...

Sorry.

And she came out with a result

Because he did what he was told.

I was very, very pleased with her.

After he got out of time-out and I offered him a drink,

He said thank you, which really made me feel good.

Now that's what I'm talking about. [Sighs]

That is what I am talking about.

With mom now gaining control,

Which is a good thing, it's time for me to go.

Jo jo's gonna leave now.

Good-bye, young man. Are you gonna shake jo jo's hand?

Are you gonna go all shy on me?

It's been a really wonderful experience for me

Working with the simmons family. Bye.

They were on board from the get-go.

They supported each other %.

Bye, sophia. Take care, darling, okay? Bye.

Thanks, jo, for helping my family.

What I want to say to you both

Is that you've worked very, very hard.

You have recognized what was necessary,

Okay, to change, and you've done it.

So keep it up. Oh, thank you.

Jo, thank you so much for coming into our home

And putting our family back together.

I feel very confident and very empowered.

All right, keep up your work

And yourself with that voice, okay?

[Tracy] we've come so far.

Just to sit back and think about all of the improvements

We've made, it's unbelievable. Bye!

Bye-bye, take care. Bye, jo.

Bye, jo. Bye-bye.

Mom and dad have worked really hard

And as a result of that, all four kids have been

Very receptive to change, which is absolutely fantastic.

So hopefully, this family will understand

The importance of what they've done

To continue in their success.

♪♪♪