Super Nanny: Super Crazy

Coo Coo!

I never realized how absolutely crazy Super Nanny was until I watched an episode tonight. I haven’t watched this since my daughter was young and prior to reading all the parenting books I have now read. I think I secretly indulged in watching the terrible parents make me feel better about myself. Yet, tonight after watching, I have realized that this woman is an egomaniac, power freak with a grandiose personality disorder.

First of all, she refers to children as “manipulative,” which I find so strange. As adults, we want to think that children think like us, but they just don’t. Even if a child acts in a way that can be percieved as manipulative, they by no means are doing it conciously or intentionally. Then, after berating the parents for their overindulgent, though compassionate, behavior, she berates their children. All this does is create complacency that will manifest in a drug addiction ten years from now. Her tactics of punishment and reward are pretty extreme. Granted, according to the show, they work.

I have to admit, in some cases, these extremes may be necessary. These parents neglected ever even considering discipline and then suddenly their children were school age and out of control. As parents, we create the habits that our children inherit. We are at fault for many, if not all, of our children’s issues. Then, they want some crazy maniacal British woman to come in and straighten out their lives for them, quick and easy, in one simple episode.

I plan to write a fictitious story that takes place ten years from now where we meet all the kids that were on the show and see how they are doing. They will be shown the episode they were on and asked how they feel about it. In reality, not TV reality, but the other kind, I suspect some serious therapy will be necessary.

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