Stop the spanking: Supernanny offers better ways to discipline misbehaving children

On the latest episode of "Supernanny," which aired Nov. 6, Supernanny Jo Frost had to deal with something she doesn't exactly enjoy. Frost has made it well-known in a few episodes that she does not believe in corporal punishment, including spanking.

When it comes to discipline, Frost is actually more of a believer in children sitting in time out for one minute per year, until they have been in time out for as long as the age they currently are.

But, the parents in tonight's episode, "Phelps Family," did spank their children and didn't follow the time out rule.

The family consisted of the parents and four boys. At one point, one child fell down the stairs, but luckily avoided serious injuries. The parents fought often and Frost tried to help with that as well.


The drama really started when Frost left for three days and the parents had to put the techniques they learned from Frost during her visit to use. She sat down with the parents and watched video footage of how the parenting and discipline went without her there. Let's just be honest and say it didn't go very well.

First off, although Frost told the parents many times not to spank their children, and to use words instead, the mother still spanked one of the boys after grabbing him and yelling at him because he did not pick up some toys. Frost seemed a little irritated about that, but didn't yell at the mother for losing her temper.

The hardest thing the parents seemed to deal with was the fact that the children did not pick up their toys. So, Frost sat with the mother when she told the children to clean up the playroom. She was pleased with the mother because she encouraged the children to pick up toys instead of yelling at them, or worse, grabbing and spanking them for not doing it.

Next, Frost asked the mother to bullet point three things that she wanted to get better at doing when it comes to parenting. She made her commit to changing those three things within three months. The mother put the paper in an envelope and Frost took it, telling her that she would send it to her in three months so that she can see if she actually followed those things when the letter comes back to her.

Frost left the house and the parents and children all seemed to be much happier. Now, that's not saying what is going to happen in the future with the family, but nearly every family that appears on the show does seem to get some help from Frost and they all seem very grateful. Even though he has not appeared on the show, even Jim Carrey thanked her for her parenting tips just a few days ago.

The full episode just discussed can be seen here when it is available, but because it is a brand new episode, it is far too recent to find online by the time this blog post went live. However, below, you can watch a sample of Frost's discipline techniques.



It is important in the world of reality TV to talk about shows that don't make things worse or add drama. Many reality TV shows are filled with drama and it is always nice to see a show that helps people, rather than harms them. That is why "Rad and Bad Reality" chose to post a recap of a "Supernanny." Sure, recaps are one of the top ways to blog about reality TV anyway, but it really does come down to what a show does for its viewers and participants that make it special.

A post like this reflects the traditional news values of audience and timlinessness because the viewing audience is affected by watching it, but the parents in the episode were most likely part of the audience at one point and probably watched themselves and their parenting skills on television when it aired. As part of the audience, the viewers at home learn parenting tips for free and the parents on the show saw how they treated their children and that alone may have helped them become better parents. It also reflects timeliness because this post was posted as soon as possible following the episode.