I love the show Supernanny. You know the show: out-of-control kids are driving mom and dad to the point of suicide, but supernanny comes in and helps them turn their little devil children into snugglicious angels. Even though my main motivation for watching the show is to feel better about my own parenting ineptness (because I would never be so foolish as to let my child suck a pacifier for four years…), the nanny actually has some good techniques that she teaches. So I count it as educational tv.
photo from abc.go.com
I just discovered that Hulu has a few of the shows available. In one of the episodes, the mom basically talks on the phone all day then complains about how busy she is “24/7” while the dad is going to work, taking out the garbage, doing the laundry, sweeping the floor, etc. So Supernanny has mom and dad write down all their responsibilities. Then she has them check the ones that they actually do. The dad wrote down 14 responsibilities and checked off 9. The mom wrote down 7 responsibilities and checked off one. Supernanny reamed into her in her classic style and made sure that mom started carrying her weight.
So this morning, I got to thinking about what Supernanny would ream into me about. I hate to say there is a part of me that identifies with that mom. There are days where I am busy all day and yet I get nothing accomplished – the house is a mess, meals consist of leftovers, takeout, or cold spaghettios, and no one has clean underwear. Then I started imagining Supernanny in the house with me – observing how I run things. It is enough to make me get up and do a load of laundry.
Heaven knows my list of weaknesses as a mother is long and wide. There really is no need to detail them. At least I still have Supernanny to occasionally help me know that I’m not alone!
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