Parenting Hacks From Supernanny
The best thing that came out of 2005 was the show Supernanny. (Try and prove me wrong!) If you haven’t seen it yet, stop right now, go download Hulu, and start watching. This British nanny helps families with their unruly kids and hectic lifestyles, and she does it all on reality TV. Watching her techniques has helped me get creative with my kids in our home. Here are a few things I learned from Supernanny.
Set up constructive play time.
Lots of kids need help learning how to play with other children correctly. ESPECIALLY neurodivergent kids. Setting up a constructive play scenario allows you to monitor, teach, and correct children while playing. It’s a great way to model correct play without taking away the child’s sense of independence and creativity.
In our home we play “grocery store” often. Each child is given a very specific role to play in our grocery store (ie. shopper, shelf stocker, cashier, etc.). Before we begin game play I show each child specifically what is done in their ‘role’. Once each person is ready we set up the scene. Get out all the play food, a pretend cash register, pretend money, grocery cart, even a car, or a baby doll to put in the grocery cart. When the scene is set, and everyone knows their part begin the scene. This may sound trivial, but creating a constructive play scene helps kids use their imaginations and learn how to listen and take turns.
Have a dependable and specific routine.
After observing a struggling family for a day, Supernanny always talks about the need for routine. She gets out a large white board and writes out a very specific and clear plan for each day. With the schedule in place parents create a safe and dependable environment for their children. In our house we use a visual picture schedule for each day. Because our routine varies by day, every morning after breakfast we sit down and create our schedule together. These are the picture magnets we bought to use for our daily schedule.
Give your child respect.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T everyone deserves respect, even disobedient children. Everytime Supernanny met a new family, she greeted the children by shaking their hand AND she would get down on their level. Just that act alone spoke volumes about her character. When disciplining a child, discipline with respect. We aren’t name calling, hitting, or belittling the child. We are redirecting, teaching, and speaking sternly. There is a huge difference.
Always come back with love.
When supernannny used the naughty chair technique (kind of like a time out) at the end of the time on the chair the child is talked to and asked to apologize for their actions. After the apology hugs, kisses, and “good jobs” are said. Don’t leave discipline open ended.
Praise yourself.
Disciplining and nurturing children is hard work. It takes dedication, emotional regulation, and patience to make it through a day as a parent. After any difficult encounter on the tv show, Supernanny would follow up with “great job mum” or “you did excellent”. There positive words helped a struggling mom remember that she was doing her absolute best and the tantrum she just endured was worth it.
