In the television prize fight to determine who can teach beleaguered American parents how to properly raise their out of control children, two contenders stand above the fray: Nanny 911 and Supernanny. But which one wins the fight?
Both play upon audience's love and adoration for Mary Poppins. Poppins, a prim and proper British nanny, would seemingly fly from house to house fixing families at every stop. Truly a superhero of epic proportion for mothers and fathers everywhere. It is no wonder that these two shows enjoy an immense popularity for parents. Both franchises have given birth to multiple books and selling seasons of episodes on DVD.
The first difference between the two is found in the format of the shows themselves. CMT's Nanny 911 consists of a “team” of nannies, each one is sent to a household based upon each nannies style. ABC's Supernanny, on the other hand, consists of one nanny, Jo Frost, who goes wherever she is needed. Jo-Jo as she is known to the kids, arrives in a genuine English taxi whereas, the nannies of Nanny 911 seem to come from nowhere. They are only seen walking up to the front door as if they just dropped from the sky itself. Both arrive for Observation Day dressed prim and proper in true Mary Poppins’ style.
Observations
Observation day is similar for both shows. The nanny observes the children’s outrageous behavior. This ranges from destruction to bodily harm to screaming fits. The children shown on both shows seem to be beyond help, and make any parent watching the show drop their jaw in disbelief. Although, Nanny 911 seems to give slightly more airtime to the shocking behavior than Supernanny does. During this chaos the nannies for both shows do their best to stand back and merely observe.
The Problem
Once observation day ends, it is time for the nannies to confront the parents for their children’s wild behavior. Both give a much needed wake-up call that has the viewing audience nodding in agreement. All the nannies run into the same problem time after time. Parents are complacent, letting their children rule the household with screaming and tantrums. These parents give in just to make the screaming stop. Or there are parents who are the opposite, yelling at everyone for everything. Screaming and spanking their children at will, causing their children to scream and hit each other. Both types have one thing in common; no consistency. After the meeting, it’s time for the work to begin.
The Solution
This is where the shows start to separate in some slight ways. While they both start by setting some house rules which most families starring on the shows have never had, the nannies have different ways of enforcing those rules. Jo Frost comes in filled to the brim with tried and true techniques that work almost universally. Nanny 911 depends more on talking and tailor made techniques for each individual child and family. Jo has the naughty chair technique for time-outs. Nanny Deb relies more on ignoring the bad behavior and rewarding the good behavior. Both use charts with a points systems to earn rewards that are tailor made for each child.
Both have excellent tips and tricks given throughout the show. Such as, Jo Frost’s Binky Fairy Technique and Nanny Stella’s Monster Spray. They also get to the root of the problem facing the parents. Many think their children are innately prone to having temper tantrums every ten minutes. They seem to feel that there is just nothing they can do. But, these nannies get to the cause quickly. It is sometimes as simple as the children not getting the proper amount of sleep.
Staying calm seems to be the ultimate trick of the trade with these nannies. Parents who rise to their children’s taunts only make the problem worse. Staying calm and in charge is the key. The nannies can be seen getting punched, slapped, kicked and cursed. They handle it with such calm that even a stoic would gasp in astonishment.
Time Constraints
The nannies of Nanny 911 have only one week to whip the family into shape. Jo Frost has a similar time table with one exception. After the lessons and counseling have been given she leaves to let the parents stretch their new muscles under the watchful eye of the camera. Jo leaves from anywhere to a few days to a few weeks allowing the parents to make the techniques second nature. When she comes back she brings an invaluable tool with her; a DVD.
On this DVD the parents are allowed to witness for themselves where they might have gone wrong. It gives these parents the opportunity to objectively asses their own behavior. Jo helps to point out both the good and the bad. They then spend the next few days tweaking and reinforcing the techniques.
Problem Solved
In the end they leave the parents and children, ready to fly off to the next family. A sense of catharsis is given to the viewing audience as we see smiles and cheers. Sometimes tears and parents begging the nannies to stay are seen as well. These parents, though, with all their past faults, are to be applauded. They work hard to rectify their mistakes while airing their dirty laundry on national television. They want to do right by their children and serve as a reminder what can happen if a parent does not take their job seriously.
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