OPENING SEQUENCE
Narrator: Tonight, on Supernanny... Jo returns to the UK on a rescue mission to stop a 9-year-old girl from tearing her family apart. Meet the Cooke family, whose 9-year-old daughter Meghann likes to be in charge.
Meghann: It's my show, I can do what I like!
Narrator: Terrorizing her sisters...
Denise: Meghann!
Narrator: Exploding...
[Meghann slamming doors]
Narrator: ...and erupting at any given moment.
Meghann: Now get out!
Narrator: Will Jo have what it takes to quell Meghann's explosive temper? Or has she finally met her match?
Meghann: Get lost!
(Intro)
UK airing:
Narrator: Meet Meghann, she likes to be in charge. Meghann:It’s my show, do I like it! (Meghann slamming doors) Narrator:She terrorises her sisters.... Denise:Meghann, NO! MEGHANN!!! Narrator: And erupts at every given moment Meghann:Now YOU are the one that I’m fed up, NOW GET OUT!!” Narrator:Will Supernanny do what it takes to curb Meghann’s explosive temper? (Meghann slapping Jo) Jo:Unfortunately I just took the brunt of Meghann’s, temper. Meghann:GET LOST!!!....I DON’T KNOW! Narrator:Or will she finally met her match? Jo:No it’s alright she’s angry. This is Meghann angry. (Meghann slapping Jo) Intro begins
FAMILY INTRODUCTION
US airing:
Jo: Let's take a look and see what family we've got here.
Denise: Hi, we're the Cooke family. I'm Denise, and this is my husband Paul. We have three girls. Meghann's 9, Gabriella's 6 and Erin is 4. We really need Supernanny, we're in a very dark place at the moment.
Meghann: I DON'T KNOW!
Denise: Meghann can be very angry, and lots of shouting, screaming and rudeness.
Meghann: No, Mom, get off me!
Jo: So disrespectful!
Paul: She knows what presses your buttons to get you angry.
Denise: Please don't shout at me like that.
Meghann: THAT'S WHAT I'M DOING!
Denise: She will actually kick up and have a tantrum like a 2-year-old.
Denise: I'm not hurting you.
Meghann: YOU ARE, YOU DON'T KNOW BECAUSE WE'RE NOT MATES!, now you are!
Denise: Don't scratch me.
Jo: Mum, I can't believe you're putting up with this!
Denise: I get angry. I don't know how to nip it in the bud. I don't know how to handle it.
Denise: Will you stop swinging it!
Meghann: NO THAT'S WHAT YOU DO WITH IT!
Jo: That little girl's mouth...
Denise: We do shout at each other. And we shout, she shouts, I shout.
Denise: Go and do your homework!
Meghann: Not unless you give it to me!
Denise: And it becomes a bit volcanic.
Denise: Go and do your homework!
Meghann: But it's mine!
Denise: Although the other girls do behave badly...
Gabriella: I DON'T LIKE THEM!!!
Denise: Right...
Meghann: Ow!
Denise: Okay...
Denise: Meghann tends to lead. They will all fight, because they all want the control.
Gabriella: Ow!
Denise: Meghann!
Denise: Leave it! Leave it! Right, now stop!
Jo: What's all this hitting?
Denise: There's generally an issue when we go out. I prefer to be at home and prefer not to be part of that... group.
Paul: I'm the one that tends to have the fun with them.
Denise: I don't want to join in with them.
Denise: Give it to me, and stop swinging it. It's dangerous!
Denise: I'm at my wits end. I've got nowhere else to go. I feel that I've failed. I need a miracle!
Paul: We want to be a complete family again and bring us back together.
Denise: We want to be given a second chance at being a happy family. Please, please help us!
Jo: You guys seriously need my help! I'm on my way!
U.K airing:
Narrator:Paul and Denise Cooke live in Stafford Bishop with their 3 daughters. 4 year old Erin, Gabriella 6, and 9 year old Meghann. Paul works long and sociable as a Fireman, while Denise struggle with motherhood with a part time admin job. Looking after her 3 daughters is hard enough, but Denise’s life is made much tougher, by one demanding daughter in particular.
Denise:Meghann is very very wilful. She’s always been a strong character. Meghann I want you to sit up. Just sit up.
Meghann:Ouch. I want to sit there! No mum get off me!
Denise:You never know what will set Meghann off and you are treading on eggshells. What do you want to drink, just sit up, what do you want to drink.
Meghann:I told you COKE!
Denise:I love her unconditionally, but she’s hard hard hard work. I’m not hurting you. I’m not hurting you.
Meghann:You are! You don’t know because you are not me than you are!
Denise:Don’t scratch me.
Paul:Denise’s approach seems to be a counter argument. So consequently there’s a slanging match that goes on.
Denise:I want you to sit up and do your homework.
Meghann:It’s mine!
Denise:Go and do your homework!
Meghann: No unless you give it to me
Denise:GO, and do your homework.
Meghann:But it’s mine!
Denise:Right....Okay!
Meghann:Ouch!
Narrator: Worrying for Paul and Denise, Gabriella and Erin are starting to copy their big sister’s aggressive behaviour.
Erin:Ha ha ha you can’t have it.
Gabby:NO, don’t you dare, now you get off me! I DON’T LIKE THAT!
Denise:It’s like a vicious circle. One starts then the other starts, it gets to a point where it’s uncontrollable. (Leave it, leave it) In the buggy, in the buggy, right, NOW STOP!!!
Narrator:Now the Cookes hardly go out as a family.
Paul:I took the girls to swimming. It’s hard to get Denise to come.
Denise:I don’t want to join in, I’m scared of the repercussions, and I don’t know how it goes to pan out. Will you STOP swinging it?
Meghann:NO that’s what you DO with it! Get off.
Denise:Give it to me and stop swinging it! It’s dangerous! I feel completely frustrated and every emotion is going through my head and I just want to be home and just I don’t care what they do. Meghann?
Meghann:I’M GOING!
Denise: Please don’t shout at me like that.
Meghann: I’m just about to sit at the table, that’s what I’m DOING!!
Denise:I’m at my wits end and I have nowhere else to go. I feel I’ve failed. I need Supernanny now. I need a miracle.
OBSERVATION BEGINS
Gabriella: Ow!
Denise: All right, you can all answer it.
Jo: Hello!
Denise: Hi! Hello!
Jo: How are you? Hello, pleased to meet you. Jo Frost, how are you?
Denise: When I first met Jo, I was in slight awe of her. She has a huge personality. And she seems to have an aura about her. Erm... and I really liked her.
Jo: Right after I arrived, it was time to take the girls to school, and it didn't take long before Mum and Meghann kicked off.
Denise: Can I have the phone, not you're just doing anything, I want it back. Meghann, now! Come here please! Give me the phone!
Meghann: No!
Denise: Just give me the telephone, Meghann because you're really...
Meghann: Mum!
[Meghann bites Denise]
Jo: Meghann's just bit her mum. Because Denise tried to take the mobile phone off of her. It's become heated, there's attitude, there's no respect, and nobody's listening to one another!
Erin: Get off me!
Denise: I haven't touched your dockings!
Meghann: WELL I GAVE IT TO YOU, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO TOUCH IT!
Denise: Come on, Erin, let's cross.
Meghann:Well done mum you’re just left Erin....
Denise: QUICKLY ERIN! THERE'S A CAR COMING NOW! What are you doing?!
Jo: There's a lot of shouting going on. And it's quite obvious that the girls don't listen to Denise whatsoever, and she needs to get a grip on it.
Denise: Meghann! Gabriella!
Jo: When Paul came home from work he walked into a chaotic dinnertime. The girls were demanding things from Mum and Dad, and Denise was totally stressed out.
Denise: Gabriella, can you sit up please?
Gabriella: I want to sit here. I want to sit here!
Denise: For goodness sake, Gabriella just eat!
Gabriella: I said, orange squash!
Paul: You missed a word out.
Denise: Please!
Gabriella: Please.
Meghann: Manners, Gabby.
Paul: Denise and I aren't working well together. I found it's not working because we're not working.
Jo: Would you say you have, different parenting styles?
Denise: Discipline is...
Paul: I'd say our tolerance is different. My tolerance is, so long . Denise's tolerance seems to be more variable. I'm three strikes and you're out. And when you're out, you're out. Denise's is small, one one one, and never carry a warning through.
Denise: I'm tired, and I'm worn out.
Denise: I don't think Paul really understands how hard it is, you know, from the moment I get up, just the ligistics of three children, three breakfasts and three school uniforms... just getting three children out the door is quite stressful, and Paul doesn't have to do that very often, at all.
Paul: Is that when when we try to stop something from getting heated, and we don't get anywhere, the barriers go out.
Denise: Because I feel very defensive, as I've said to you earlier on, I feel like I've failed.
Paul: It's not a case of failing.
Denise: I know it's not, but I feel that Paul. I personally feel that I've failed my children and that I'm not a good mother.
Paul: You are a good mother and you haven't failed them.
Denise: [Tearfully] Then why do they walk all over me the way they do?
Narrator: Coming up, on Supernanny...
Narrator: The curtain falls on Meghann's play...
Meghann: Well, it's not, it got ruined once, it can get ruined again!
Narrator: ...and Denise and Paul find themselves against the ropes.
Jo: She bites and pulls and slaps you, and you take it like a punch bag. It's eye-opening. It really is eye-opening!
Narrator: When Supernanny returns...
MEGHANN'S PLAY
Jo: Later that evening, Meghann and her sisters had a little surprise for me. They put on a play.
Meghann: You've gotta put your hand up, you twit.
Denise: Pardon?
Meghann: Twit! Yes? Wrong!
Jo: But as soon as the curtains went up, it was game over.
Gabby: Don't say it!
Meghann: CHILL OUT!
Denise: Oh, don't ruin it, Meg.
Meghann: Well, it's not, it got ruined once, it can get ruined again!
Denise: Oh, Gabriella!
Paul: How many children are there in it?
Paul: If things aren't going quite the right way or something's not quite working, Meghann can get a little bit agitated.
Denise: Meghann, bed now, because you spoiled it.
Meghann: No! I haven't it's my show I can do what I like!
Denise: You have just spoiled it.
Paul: Meghann, I take you up, or you're gonna go.
Denise: You spoiled it, Meghann.
Meghann: I haven't! I didn't do anything!
Denise: Meghann can go from being an angel to being a devil in a snap of the fingers. She's very unpredictable. I never know what's going to trigger Meghann.
Denise: You spoiled it, Meghann.
Meghann: I didn't spoil it, Gabby showed out! Erin can't say that!
Paul: Meghann was starting to get angry with the othet two girls, other sisters. And that's what Denise put a stop to it. And we have all sorts of problems.
Denise: Meghann! Meghann, will you listen to me? Meghann!
Meghann: MUM, SHUT UP!
Denise: Please don't talk to me like that.
Meghann: You tell me not to shout, and you shout.
Denise: Meghann, I've told you before. I'm your mummy, and you are my little girl. I don't expect you to speak to me like that. Please, Meghann, do not speak to me like that.
Jo: When Denise and Meghann argue, they both have tempers that spiral out of control. They're very much alike. But at the end of the day there's one Mum, and there's a daughter. And one of them has to be responsible, and that somebody has to be the Mum.
Denise: Meghann listen to me you are not clever now I want you to go to bed now your making me very angry and sad
Meghann: I am clever.
Denise: Do you know what you done to me do you do you care you cant care.
[Denise crying]
Denise: I can't stand this!
Jo: And what is it, right now, that you are feeling?
Denise: I'm feeling hurt and sad, that my 9-year old daughter can treat me the way she is.
Jo: What is it that you want from Meghann?
Denise: I want love from her. I want her to hug me and tell me she loves me. I don't want her to shout at me, and tell me she hates me.
Jo: It's clear that the friction between Mum and Meghann has really worn her down. There needs to be change, and I'm about to do that.
PARENTS MEETING
Jo: When I first meet a family, I watch the dynamics between the parents and the children. And afterwards, I sit them both down and discuss the issues that need to be addressed.
Denise: I'm not good at accepting criticism. But, knowing what Jo's like, I know I'm gonna be able to take that criticism which is a strange place for me to be.
Jo: Three... creative, beautiful girls. Highly intelligent, strong-willed, and you should be proud of that. But, where's the respect from your three girls?
Denise: They don't have any respect for us.
Jo: The behaviour because of their lack of respect they have for the pair of you is eye-opening! It really is eye-opening! Let's start with Meghann. She bites, and pulls you and slaps you, and you take it like a punch bag. When you argue with Meghann, it must be like looking at yourself, because the pair of you are very alike in your personalities. It's like watching two kids, because neither lets go. You're both fighting for the last word. How are you setting a clear, good example to your children, when you're telling them to stop shouting, when you're shouting yourself? Why is it hard to discipline the girls?
Denise: Because there's so much confrontation and arguing that I just find it easier to ignore it.
Jo: The pair of you haven't given them any boundaries, so that when they overstep those boundaries, there is a consequence for it. It's "I'm going to do this, I'm going to count to one, two and tickly-boo!" because nothing else happens! It really doesn't. You're not working together as parents. You both walk on eggshells with one another. Paul, you're too scared to tell Denise what's on your mind! Am I wrong?
Paul: No, you're not wrong, because If I explain how I feel it will get and adverse reaction. And I feel that my feelings are being engaged so I don't bother.
Jo: You don't do what parents and couples should do. That is to support each other.
Denise: I know everything you're saying is true and that's why we're here, that's why we want to move on. We don't want to have this black cloud hanging over us. We want the sun to shine.
Paul: Yeah. It's bound to be cloudy on off days but it's having an umbrella to deal with it.
[Denise laughs]
Jo: Exactly.
Denise: When you hear that we shout so our children shout is quite harsh. But it's true, I guess. We are their role models and what they see in us is correct. And if we shout, and if we don't treat each other nicely why should they?
Paul: Jo picked up on the fact that I don't tell Denise what's on my mind, which is again, spot on. Jo analysed our family down to tea and a bit of bread.
Narrator: Coming up on Supernanny...
Narrator: When Meghann's reign over the househod is seriously challenged her claws come out,
[Meghann slaps Jo]
Jo: This is Meghann angry, look.
Narrator: When Supernanny returns...
SETTING UP DISCIPLINE
Jo: This family needs to set discipline and rules. So on my first day of teaching, I'm about to lay these down.
Jo: The first rule says: "No yelling or shouting". So there is no need to raise your voice or yell, because it can be very upsetting. Every household rule that gets broken, there is a consequence for that. And if they refuse to listen and they carry on, then I want you to put them in that dining room, which is now going to be called "The Reflection Room". The Reflection Room is a place where the girls can go and think about what they've done, and why they're in there. "If I behave like this, this is where I end up". That is setting firm boundaries.
Jo: Last but not least, I brought out the Princess Chart for the family.
Jo: Now this chart is a princess' castle. And I've got these, special ones.
Gabriella: What, are they little princesses?
Jo: They are princesses, but do you know what? It's Princess Gabby! Yes, oh my word! It's Princess Gabby!
[Gabriella Laughing]
Jo: When you show Mummy and Daddy that you behave yourself, you're going to jump up onto the pathway, OK? Until you reach the doors of the castle. Because when you reach the doors of the castle, you get to do something that you want to do.
Meghann: It's sissy stuff. That means it's babyish.
Jo: Come and talk to me, if you've got something to say, because I'm not going to talk to you across the room, Meghann.
Jo: Meghann had decided that she was too grown up for the princess chart, and called it "Sissy". She was having none of it.
Denise: No! Right!
Gabriella: Meghann pulled the crown off!
Denise: Meghann!
Meghann: Well, I think it's sissy stuff. Will that help?
Denise: The princess reward chart was absolutely beautiful, but Meghann didn't like it, because it represented change. She didn't want to be involved.
Paul: If you don't get it out of the bin, you're gonna be in there.
Meghann: Big deal.
Paul: Alright then, in you go.
Jo: Meghann usually gets away with this kind of behaviour. But this time, I told Paul to give her a warning, and if she didn't listen, she ended up in the reflection room.
Jo: When you go into the room after her time, explain why you put her in there, OK? And say to her you want an apology for that behaviour. If she delivers a sorry that's angry: "Sorry!", and she's really rude, say to her "No, that's not good enough. I want an apology properly which is: "Sorry". If she doesn't, then she stays in there.
Paul: Certainly someone like Meghann needs to give an apology so she knows why, because when you get an apology, you say to them: "You understand why you're in the reflection room."
Paul: The behaviour you're showing is really unacceptable and I want an apology.
Meghann: Sorry.
Paul: I want a heart-felt sorry, not just any old sorry.
Jo: And how will Meghann know how to give you a heart-felt sorry unless you have to show her? Say to her: "Look at me, and say to me "I'm sorry" so that she knows otherwise she won't know.
Paul: You need to look at me and say "I'm sorry" properly. As if you mean it.
Meghann: Well I mean it, because I don't know!
[Meghann tries to slap Jo, but Paul stops her}
Paul: Meghann, no.
Jo: No, no it's fine.
Paul: No, we don't hit.
Meghann: Yes I do!
Jo: Paul, she's...
Meghann: She's not a member of the household I can do it!
Jo: Follow through...
Paul: Meghann, start by giving your proper apology to me, then we can go get you a glass of water, we can get the picture out of the bin, and we can start again.
Meghann: I don't want the picture because it's sissy stuff!
Jo: See, that's lead into engaging a conversation. I want an apology for that behaviour, she's either going to say she's sorry, or she's not.
{MEGHANN MUMBLES}
Jo: What was that? What did she say?
Paul: I don't know.
Jo: She doesn't know, well she can sit in the reflection room and think about that.
{Meghann gets up and starts slapping Jo very aggressively}
Jo: No, it's all right. It's okay, this is angry, look. This is Meghann angry. Angry, look. This is Meghann angry, that she sees no boundaries.
Paul: She was very aggressive towards Jo, I didn't expect that. But, then again, things are changing big time in our house and that is hard for a 9 year old to come to terms with.
Meghann: My friend thinks you're a b****. And so do I.
Jo: She's learning, and she knows that she can't get away with that unacceptable behaviour anymore, and there's going to be a consequence.
Denise: She's going to be in there all night, isn't she?
{Meghann is starting to trash the reflection room as she is knocking chairs over}
Jo: Once Meghann's next 9 minutes were up, Paul went in again, to get his apology.
Paul: Meghann, I want an apology, and I want you to look at me when you say it.
Meghann: Well I won't say it until she gets lost!
{Meghann gets up from her chair and starts slapping and scratching Jo again.}
Jo: Meghann!
Paul: Meghann!
Jo: Meghann, calm down please. Calm down. Calm down and listen to Daddy, darling.
Meghann: Not unless you get lost!
Jo: Don't shout. I know you're angry, I know you're angry but listen to Daddy.
Meghann: I won't until you get lost!
Jo: I'm here with Daddy.
Meghann: No you're not, 'cause you weren't here to begin with!
Paul: Sit down, Meghann. Look at me, Meghann.
Meghann: No.
Jo: She can be incredibly rude. She can be very aggressive, and unfortunately, I've took the brunt off Meghann's temper, but because it was the first time I was teaching that with Paul and with Denise, I felt it strongly that I should just ignore it. Throughout this course, if she does decide to hit me or bite me I'm going to be placing her in that room myself.