Super Nanny

Ben and I have taken to watching Super Nanny on a regular basis. Mostly so we can feel sorry for those parents who seem to have the most horrid children on earth. Ours are perfect, or so we believed. If you were to judge only upon the adorably innocent photo above you would think so too. Since Henry is about to enter the terrible two's and seems to have started early, I've started to take a lot more notice of what the Nanny says.

We've implemented a naughty corner. Guess what? It actually works. At Henry's age of course it only works because it serves to take his mind off whatever it is he was having a hissy fit about rather than actually give him time out to think about his crime. As soon as we say "off to the naughty corner" he grins and takes himself there and sits down until we say he can leave. He even says "sorry" when his time is up.

The Nanny's formula works but it's a method taught by many parenting programs and is very similar to the program developed by Matt Sanders who designed the triple P Parenting Program. I attended a Matt Sanders program when Maya was around five years old and driving me insane. If you are prepared to be persistent and consistent it pays off. Not always but most times.

Last night I thought the Nanny had been presented with the worst situation ever. A single mum who seemed to have lost complete control of her three daughters. I felt like crying for her just watching those kids bring her to tears several times a day. I could feel the frustration welling inside me and my kid was asleep. I thought there was no way anyone was going to get these kids under control but it happened. Those children were like putty by the end of it....almost. No kid is ever going to be 100% well behaved and if they were one would have to wonder what kind of abuse they were being subjected to on a regular basis that kept them so pliable.