فصل 4

Donna and Billy Jo Drake have three adorable but extremely lively kids (Josie, four, and three-year-old twins Jared and Justin), and they often lean on Donna's mom, Mimi, who lives next door, for childcare. Mimi is a lifesaver, helping out with the children, whom she emotionally calls "her heart." But the kids are such a handful that Supernanny worries they'll give Mimi a heart attack! When Mimi gives the twins a time out, she's literally pulled in different directions on the floor by their squirming and defiance, because she insists on holding on to them the whole time. Plus, the Drakes have a beautiful new RV, perfect for family vacations, but the parents are so over-protective with the kids that just a family walk induces parental panic.

Supernanny has gotten the call from the Chapman Family -- but not from Mom and Dad. Teenagers Brittany (16) and Moriah (14) reached out for help parenting their three little brothers, twins Ethan and Cole (4), and Quinn (3). The beleaguered teens are also expected to homeschool themselves each day. Where are Mom and Dad? After years of being a stay-at-home Mom, Sara's gone back to work, starting her own photography business. She now relies heavily on her oldest two kids for childcare duties, but it's not working for the teenagers or their young siblings. And Dad Glenn doesn't see the problem with Britney and Moriah helping out so much that he never has to change a diaper!

Meet the Schumachers, the ultimate 21st century American family -- hard-working parents who strive to give their beautiful children everything--everything, that is, except boundaries, responsibilities and goals. So, instead of gratitude, the kids have attitude, in abundance. The oldest, Jessica (14), belittles her parents for not giving her more expensive things and having a bigger home (their house is quite sizable, but she calls it "a dump"); Alexi (11) is constantly online with a social networking site, pretending to be older and chatting with strangers. Dylan (7) is bored, so he amuses himself by cursing, obscene gestures, hitting, spitting, kicking and punching. Parents Teri and Brian can't understand why their kids treat them like servants and complain so much.

Angela and Forrest An-Duan have their kids completely overscheduled with over 40 activities a week for the five young children: Christopher, 9; Isabella, 7; twins Lawrence and Benjamin, 6; and Charlotte, 4. The parents feel that they're helping their kids by exposing them to so many lessons -- Chinese, chess, art, piano, tutoring, violin, tennis, Scouts, math class, music appreciation, writer's workshops and more -- but instead everyone is exhausted and stressed out. Often Mom resorts to having the kids eat dinner in the car, and the children don't get to bed until 10:00 p.m., when they've finally finished their homework. The three boys rebel by hitting, punching, kicking, spitting, pulling hair, talking back and picking on their sisters; discipline is non-existent, and the oldest child, Christopher, is in a power struggle with Mom. The parents are so overwhelmed that they've delayed moving into the beautiful new home they finished building six months ago!

This single dad needs a clue about parenting. Before he got custody of his two boys, Lane (11) and James (5), Scott Terrill had never even given them a bath. Now he's got to step up. But in an effort to avoid giving his boys the harsh childhood he had, Scott has gone to the other extreme: zero discipline has led to a house run by tantrums, fights, screaming and slammed doors. Dad serves nothing but junk food, and now his 11-year old already has a cholesterol problem. Jo worries that the child may have a heart attack before he turns 18!

Brenda and Bill Dostal think that the problem is with their misbehaving son, but Jo quickly realizes he's just acting out due to Mom and Dad's problems. Five-year-old Zachary literally chases Mom around the house trying to claw her when she attempts the timeout technique. Her arms are bloody after his attacks! His little sister Erin, 3, is overshadowed by Zachary's outrageous behavior. Bill blames Brenda for not controlling Zachary, and Brenda doesn't trust Bill to curb his own temper when dealing with the children. As a result, communication between the parents has shut down, and Zachary is so naughty that play dates are fraught with trouble. Brenda fears her marriage may not last if they don't get help.

Jo has her most fiery face-off ever with a checked-out mom who has let things go for too long at home. Lisa and Steve Daniels have six beautiful children ranging in age from 2 to 13, but the pretty picture ends there. Chaos rules, not the parents. Spitting, cursing, hitting, nasty threats and general misbehavior are commonplace among the kids. Mom thinks her middle daughter, Alexus, acts like "a wild animal" and pegs her oldest daughter, Halley, 12, as the biggest culprit. But Halley is often reacting to Alexus' taunts, and seems to be held to a higher standard than the other kids, being the only child to have chores assigned her. Meanwhile older brother Josh, 13, just retreats into his room for computer games while his five sisters act out, and Mom ignores the bedlam. Dinnertime is a free-for-all of food fights, random noshing and family members scattered about, while the dining room stays empty. The kids are so out of control that the parents have given up on trying to manage them or teach them otherwise.

Pop star Wendy Wilson and her husband, Dan Knutson, make history as the first celebrity parents to enlist Supernanny's help. Wendy, who rose to fame as part of the multi-platinum trio Wilson Phillips, is now a stay-at-home mom working on being the best mother possible after having four sons in five years. As the daughter of Beach Boys' Brian Wilson, she was raised in a household where the children had few boundaries, and is often a pushover with her rambunctious toddlers, Leo, 4 and Beau, 3. Husband Dan, a former rock singer, was raised just the opposite way, with clear-cut rules and a strict schedule. Having had twins Willem and Jesse just six weeks prior to filming, Wendy and Dan are exhausted, overextended, and realize that their current parenting style won't work.

Holly and Jimmy Tafoya can’t quite figure out why cursing, spanking and washing their kids’ mouths out with soap aren’t working as discipline tactics. And when Supernanny steps in, Holly shows her the door!

Kadi and Daniel Prescott have seven children, ranging in age from one year to eight. Kadi's own father left her family when she was just 13, after coming out of the closet. Kadi is still hurting from this experience of abandonment, and her husband, Daniel, is resistant to their young family having a closer relationship with her dad because of his sexuality. This emotional distance from her own father is a true heartache for Kadi, who also feels she's falling short as a mother: She loses her temper too frequently with the kids, especially with seven-year-old Daniel, who was recently diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. She relies on her oldest daughter, Marli, who's eight, to be the "mini-Mom," as Jo says, giving the youngster more responsibility than the other kids combined. On top of all this, Kadi doesn't have any friends within 45 minutes of their home, and feels lonely and isolated. Enter Jo, who tries to bridge the gap between Kadi's father and the family, help Kadi build a support network, and show both parents how to manage Daniel better.

Lisa and Rich Banjany of Staten Island, New York have a home business, Confuzzled Cookies, which has taken off like a rocket. But they have no control over their three kids -- twin five-year-olds Cameron and Zoe, and Blake, three -- which threatens to affect the promising start-up while making daily home life miserable. Blake likes to play dress up with his sister, which concerns Dad greatly. The boys fight like barroom brawlers, and though Zoe is usually well-behaved, when she's not, she's a complete handful -- and she establishes an ignominious "Supernanny" record, taking three and a half hours to stay put for a five-minute timeout. Any attempt at drawing the line between work and home life is "confuzzled" indeed! Lisa admits the kids are running the household when they act out, bite their parents and snack out of the pantry and fridge all day long.

Jo faces the most aggressive and foul-mouthed duo ever in the McKeever boys, Hunter, 7, and River, 6. They greet her by hitting her and calling her names, shocking, but sadly typical, because they are both extremely violent and disrespectful. In fact, they persist in hitting and kicking Jo throughout her work with the family. Days and nights are filled with the terrible twosome destroying the home, using potty language, as well as smacking, kicking, and biting each other and their parents. Stay-at-home mom Lisa is so embarrassed by the boys that she doesn't want to go out in public with them, and her husband Corey works long hours, avoids interacting with his sons when he's home, and shockingly, claims Lisa has it "easier" than he does. Jo has a heated exchange with Corey, telling him to grow up and end his selfishness, and he angrily walks out of the room.

Still reeling from the sudden loss of their live-in grandfather, the entire Addis family is in turmoil. Granddad was actually the man of this family. Dad is now struggling to fill his father-in-law's shoes and claim his role as patriarch. With four out-of-control and disrespectful children at home all day long, Mom is juggling the demands of three jobs at once -- mother, homemaker and home-school teacher to her four children.

The four Citarella kids, ages seven, six, three and one, run "a three-ring circus around me," according to Mom Debbie. In spite of the chaos, she laughs all the time, even as her children flout her rules. Dad Joe admits that his kids' uncontrollable behavior has taken the fun out of parenting, and he retreats by wearing earplugs whenever he drives the kids around. He's a police officer in a small town, but three-year-old daughter Sarah has taken to shoplifting! Even baby Joshua at one year is a feisty "brute" who defies his parents' wishes. A simple trip to the drug store with the four children sets off all kinds of acting out, and an overwhelmed Debbie becomes panicky and breathless. Jo has some stern words for the laughing mom, who Jo thinks isn't serious about changing.

"It's musical beds," the sheepish dad, Kyle, admits about his family of five, and the parents haven't slept in the same bed in eight years! Jo actually tucks mom into bed with two of the kids during observation time, and later says it's amazing the couple ever had three children, considering how little time they have alone. Stay-at-home Mom Christy drags through the day, too timid to enforce boundaries or discipline for fear her children won't like her, and too detached to engage her lively young girls, Ellie (10), Emma (6) and Cara (4), during playtime. The walls throughout the house are covered with the kids' graffiti. Live-in grandma "Memaw" has little privacy, as her grandchildren troop in and out of her rooms with no respect for her belongings. In addition, four-year-old Cara still uses a pacifier because Christy is prolonging her youngest's babyish tendencies.

The Clause kids -- Brandon, 10 and Caila, 8 -- are "tweenage terrors," disrespectful, manipulative and resentful, but the key to change rests with their parents. Mom is a pushover, and Dad is too laid back and laissez faire. Entering their pre-teen years, these kids are at a critical point when they need a solid relationship with their parents, which is lacking now. Behind the kids' backtalk, swearing, verbal threats and toddler-like tantrums are years of dysfunction, disorder and chaos. Dad especially fears never having a close relationship with his kids and losing them completely.

Dad, Sindo, is a civilian contractor in Iraq, leaving his wife, Michelle, home alone for five months at a time with three rambunctious children -- Sindo, 9, Ashley, 7, and Mikey, 6. Mom is easily overwhelmed and rides a daily rollercoaster of emotions, waiting for Dad's regular email to reassure her that he has survived another day. Her frequent crying, yelling and overreaction to the kids prompts the children to respond in kind with hostility and behavior that quickly spirals out of control. Ashley throws giant temper tantrums in public, so Mom is reluctant to take the children out. She feels enormous pressure to fill the role of both mother and father, and though Dad calls as often as he can, phone warnings hold little threat when he's half a world away.

It's a full house for Reverend Browning and his industrious wife, Bernadette, as they try to maintain peace in their well-appointed suburban home where the six children range in age from toddler all the way up to college age. Mom is so busy running her real estate business from home that she doesn't have time for the kids. Mom and Dad want their home to be a sanctuary, but it's becoming a battleground.

The Doyle children all attend a daycare where Lizzie (three) has a record of complaints from other kids and parents that's got her on the brink of being kicked out of the pre-school. Five-year-old Sara is busy cutting her own hair with her mom's sewing kit, and young Andrew (18 months) is developing his own attitude based on his two sisters' bad behavior. Jo will have a chance to take her skills into the classroom to help Brandy and Dwight Doyle get their children to be more respectful out in public as well as at home.

Since Dad, Harding, has taken a job that requires him to travel away from home Monday through Thursday every week, his oldest daughter, Hailey, 11, acts out, setting the tone for behavior for her siblings, who then misbehave too. Hailey openly discusses how much she hates her sister, eight-year-old Camryn. She pulls her sister's hair and belittles her, trashes her four-year-old brother Matthew's projects and defies discipline around the clock, driving her helpless mom, Michelle, to tears. Hailey even hits her mother when she doesn't like what she hears. When Dad's at home, he is no more effective in enforcing discipline.

Shannon and John both have high profile jobs at a large church, but their home is a far cry from a peaceful sanctuary. All four of their children fight with each other so viciously and so frequently that mom usually intervenes only if someone has drawn blood. That happens regularly because the kids bite, pinch, kick and pull hair for all they're worth. Mom's yelling isn't working, and Dad says he spanks to discipline, since he doesn't believe that timeouts or talking work. But in spite of the hardline tactics, neither parent has much authority.