The Christiansen Family/Transcript

Beginning
Narrator: Tonight on Supernanny, Jo meets the Christiansen family.

Jo: Pleased to meet you!

Submission reel
Jo: Let’s take a look and see what family we've got this week.

Chris: Ok here we go.

Chris: Hi my name is Chris Christensen.

Colleen: I’m Colleen Christensen.

Chris: I work as an insurance agent. My wife she’s a stay at home mom. We have two boys, Corey is seven and Chase is three.

Colleen: Chase did you do that?

Chase: Yeah.

Colleen: Why did you do that?

Colleen: Basically we traveled a lot before the children. Our life was great, we both had our careers. We didn't realize that once we have children, we had to give up almost a hundred percent of us.

Chris: Sit down sit down.

Chris: Don't put your hands on me.

Colleen: Don't hit mommy.

Colleen: Wait until your father gets home. You're going to be in trouble, you're gonna be punished.

Jo: Who's in charge? Mom? Dad? Or the kids.

Colleen: Corey is our first child he has a very stubborn personality.

Corey: Open the door mommy or I'm gonna go the garage way.

Colleen: Come on Corey.

Jo: Ah this is crazy.

Chase: Go away! Go away!

Colleen: Chase is learning by the example of Corey.

Corey: No. Yes.

Chris: Our children kick us.

Colleen: Chris he just kicked me in the ribs.

Chris: Curse at us.

Chase: I hate you!

Corey: Get away from me you animal!

Chris: Throw things at us.

Chris: Don't do that.

Chris: and just totally disrespect us.

Colleen: If they don't get their way then they act out with anger.

Chris: Don't pinch me.

Chase: I hate you mommy.

Jo: Look at this behavior.

Chris: When I discipline, Colleen will come in and interfere.

Chris: Hey stop, I can't- excuse me Colleen, please.

Colleen: Just hug him.

Chris: I did hug him what are you talking about.

Colleen: Yeah it's so hard with him.

Chris: Yeah I know.

Chris: We don't agree on parenting techniques.

Colleen: We don't even know what a parenting technique is.

Chris: Right, we don't have nothing.

Chris: Ow! Don't bite me! What are you biting me for?

Corey: Get away from me. I'm gonna kill you.

Colleen: Ouch!

Colleen: Supernanny we need your help. Our whole family's falling apart.

Jo: This has got to stop right now! I'm on my way.

Observation begins
Jo hello how are you

Chris good I'm Chris

Jo please to meet you I'm Chris

Chris my first impression of the supernanny when she arrives i felt relieved yeah has I've been waiting a long time for her to come help us

Colleen hi i,m colleen

Jo pleased to meet you

Colleen welcome to our home this is chase

Jo hi chase please meet you

Colleen joe seems to be a very warm person and very interested in our family

Jo what,s your name hi Corey pleased to meet you well i,m here okay observe watch the dynamics of your family so feel free to carry on as if i,m not here i,m not gonna watch you throughout your day

Colleen okay great we,re very happy you,re here

Chris i acquired chase i got your food guys i want you to sit up

Jo when i first walked into the house the parents will do in breakfast Cory so you,re having for breakfast jelly beans

Chase candy

Colleen no chase that,s not very nice guys no you're not supposed to have candy before breakfast

Chris give me the gum you see whatever then spit out of my hand yeah thank you

Chris what don,t yell at me what are you yelling for that kid no right now he took a bite

Chris don,t put your hands on me

Chris don,t hit me

Jo did i miss the baby

Chris there,s the baby

Jo chase these are yours

Jo i think it,s ridiculous that chase has a bottle is three years old it,s a big boy it's not baby

Colleen let me have a good day

Chris you too

Jo bye

Colleen can you say please

Chase i,m on

Colleen stop that chase that's not very nice how your acting here

Jo that went off to work a mom had Corey and chase and chase starts to have a temper tantrum

Colleen no that's not nice come on

Colleen come here

Colleen come on

Colleen would you like to do something

Colleen don,t push mommy

Chase go away!

Colleen mom wants up with the light back on

Chase no

Colleen now you can see

Chase on

Colleen come on

Colleen look it you,re making Joe sad

Jo sorry

Colleen Jo's making you sad

Jo why you tell him

Colleen oh so he feels bad so he stops

Jo i was a bit shocked that colleen involved me when she was trying to discipline chase i just thought why are you doing that

Colleen do you want me to read your book

Chase go away

Colleen don't pinch at me come on

Jo colleens day with the children is completely unstructured

Colleen don,t pinch at me come on

Chase no

Jo they don,t do anything in the house thats productive

Colleen no no don,t do that

Colleen why are you doing that?

Jo the children are constantly bored in the house they look for things to do they want to try and make some fun for themselves

Colleen chase christiansen come back here

Colleen stop now

Colleen cory should'nt stand on their you'll get hurt

Jo the son that making is mr.

Colleen cory i,m not playing games with you right now

Jo i lost the cat,s away the mice continue to play Cory was so bored around mid morning that he ran out to the house to go and get one of his friends to play with

Colleen Cory come back in the house please

Colleen chase

Colleen know chase locked us out now

Jo chase knocked you out of the house

Colleen never he didn't

Jo we was stuck outside the house we could get even

Colleen chase open the door now

Chase no

Jo so yes be serious we,re really locked outside

Colleen yes

Jo how do you get in chase should know as a house rule that is not allowed to lock people out that it's not funny

Colleen can you please open the door

Chase no

Colleen chase open the door now

Jo so why you be serious we,re really locked outside

Colleen yes

Jo so how do you get in

Colleen can you please open the door

Chase no

Jo oh this is crazy a low feel i can,t believe i,m actually stuck out so job chase locked us out and

Colleen we can,t do anything and there was mom at the window begging chase to open up the door i mean just ridiculous

Colleen chase if you,re a good boy mommy will get your candy

Jo i,m needed to get back into the house so she,s started to bribe chase eventually it worked

Colleen okay thank you

Jo miss decided to listen

Corey where,s my candy?

Colleen whatever that wasn't very nice of you

Colleen left poor joe outside

Jo chase behavior is absolutely ridiculous after he lets us package it got worse

Colleen don,t pinch at me

Jo is that kind of behavior how do you get from chase

Colleen from chase pinching

Colleen yes Corey well after pinch me once in a while he gets angry okay bye what letter producing

Chase no no

Chase get out!

Colleen no thats not nice to mommy mommy wants you to stop i want you to calm down calm down

Chase get out!

Colleen sometimes i have to just walk away from him till he calm down every time i go towards him he starts acting out more

Colleen but you still have to go gets dressed in your clothes

Colleen can you come upstairs and get dressed

Colleen corey cuz you,re not gonna be able to play with adam or anybody later

Colleen while your brother comes down now that he,s breaking the door now

Chase who broke the door?

Colleen well thats not very nice to break the door

Colleen oh he did break it

Jo chase was so angry that he was now becoming destuctive i couldn,t believe what he was doing

Chase get out

Colleen okay you can sit here by yourself again

Jo boom you just have that door in your face

Colleen yes he did

Jo mum said nothing

Jo how do you what i reconize in this family is that the children gain so much control that it,s almost like the parents is scared to actually deal with the consequences of that behavior

Colleen it,s worse when his brother is home because i want to fix whimper together but if i have him on my own that i can handle but then if i,m going back and forth between the two of that it,s very very difficult it,s just i feel like a failure

Jo i think it,s sad that mum what,s up with it and emotionally she,s broken me

Colleen hello

Chris huh

Colleen how are you

Chris good

Jo hi chris

Chris hello hello

Colleen pretty crazy day it,s been very crazy

Jo when chris came home from work mom was there ready to let off steam and tell chris how naughty the children had behaved

Colleen he broke the door in the laundry room

Chris what

Colleen he broke the door in the wider room they try to peek out

Chris is it leah means food let,s go see her

Colleen it was broken

Chris perfect so how did he break the door

Chris what you do

Colleen what to him nothing i didn,t do anything i want him crying there so he calmed down before to kicking anything

Chris he put in your room

Colleen i put him up in this room at one point

Colleen mommy july to calm down no you

Chris just let me cry okay

Chris you broke that door right

Chase not there.

Chris on the bottom yeah yes i know that on the bottom

Chris you broke the door right show me what you broke good

Chris point to it

Jo in this household it,s very apparent that chris has to deal with all discipline when he comes home

Chase i didn,t broke it

Chris you broke the door right

Chase i didn,t

Chris why did you break the door

Chase i didn,t break it

Chris did you ask why

Colleen i know why he,s broken there,s a tantrum

Chris colleen i know he broke the door you know broke the door

Chris you know why he did it i want him

Colleen while he,s 3

Chris for chase has nothing to do with that,s ridiculous

Jo i tell you it,s ridiculous mum and dad arguing off a pair of teenagers in front of their children

Colleen starting a conversation with you i,m trying to talk to you

Chris i,m fine i,m jumping

Colleen see he canot come home and he can never talk on me

Chris you talk it,s inside

Colleen okay to communicate you just know you,re in you,re own world

Jo there is so much tension between mum and dad unless kids are here in every word and then like two bombs ticking ticking ticking ticking and i don,t even know when it,s gonna explode

Dinner Time
Chris: I told you no. Now get out of here

Colleen: Don't pinch me

Colleen he just pinched me

Jo mom,s basically given all the authority to dad and it,s undermining her position as mum in the household

Chris: Stop it

Chris: Did you just pinch Mommy did you

Corey: I don't know ?

Chris: Now go sit down

Corey: You did that for she.

Chris: yeah yeah that,s right that,s right would have done

Chris i would have done that we got

Chris let,s go sit down

Chris don,t put your what

Chris no curse at me you don,t put hands on your mother

Chris don,t scratch me

Chris Don,t hit me

Chris you sit there and you don,t throw i,m warning you not to forget it

Chris don,t throw it at me

Jo you could see that dad has reached the end of his tether he shouts and he yells these children are a reflection of him because they do the same back

Chris well you,re going to your room

Chris yes you didn,t play with me

Chris why are you crying because i put you in your room because you called me names and kicked me

Chris i think you need to get in your room

Colleen put somebody at the bottom you mean

Chris i,m no stranger to that which i have taught over the step what you,re talking about

Colleen yeah

Chris no i,m not screaming who knows i think the make

Colleen boy okay like yelling on him standing back and forth doing it okay

Chris okay so put them back into a room

Colleen oh just want him to be in there longer the handed

Parents Meeting
Jo after i have observed a family i sit down with the mom and dad i need to be honest and tell them the issues and how we,re going to resolve them

Jo hi guys

Colleen hi

Jo i,ve seen enough so i think it,s time to talk so let,s go through another chat concrete

Colleen i was most worried about joe saying that i was a bad mother and i wasn,t doing my job properly

Chris a little bit of nervousness because didn,t know what to expect but excited at the same time

Jo but two lovely boys you have lovely home

Chris thank you

Colleen thanks

Jo the family that you have takes a lot of hard work

Jo when did you give up

Jo when did you stop the love and the joy that isn,t in this house anymore

Chris you,re trying to bring that back together

Jo sad i see two parents in this house that are not enjoying their all we,ve been blessed to have and it said

Jo behavior in this house is a seriously big issue just sons swear at you and they kick you and they punch you

Chris i know

Jo how much abuse the pair of you want to take from your own kids it,s some shocking that it,s become sad your children behave appallingly they have no respect it,s disgusting and yet there is no discipline for it

Jo the way you do with discipline chris you shout and you yell at them and you grab them you,re lost control with the kids and i,ve walked into a house where really there,s four kids in this house

Colleen it is my arrogance were very immature

Jo it,s not funny

Chris no respect

Jo i really don,t find it funny

Jo you guys are the parents here and when your children misbehave you act like teenagers tit for tat tit for tat

Jo i suggest the pair of you grow up right now and get real with the responsibilities of what you have in front of your face

Jo colleen lights are wrong but no one,s in that,s what comes to mind your body postures low you,ve given up your children know you,re given up

Jo you just walk around the house everyday switched off

Colleen i knew that i totally ignore it because it,s difficult for me to do

Jo after school taking responsibility it,s about recongnizing that you,re a mother i know that it,s hard otherwise i wouldn,t be here but i don,t want to hear excuses

Jo i don,t want to hear from the pair of you with quit with give up because you can,t you,ve got two young children

Jo and the price that the pair of you are gonna pay as parents trust me

Jo it,s gonna be steep if you don,t get a grip on this you guys have got to be a hundred percent dedicated and committed to one another and to your children because your kids are a reflection on yourselves

Colleen it was difficult for me to hear you,re not a child anymore start acting like a parent

Chris nobody wants to hear the truth so i would have to say it was very sad to hear what she had to say

Jo okay let,s start with some work

Teaching begins
Jo on the first day teaching i give the family a routine for the christensen,s i,ve given them a parent schedule so that there is structure to their day

Jo this is what you guys need in this house okay

Colleen when joe running the parent schedule i felt a sense of relief because i was like wow this is really great now i have a schedule for my family

Jo at 7:30 the kids are to get up washed and dressed and then take cory to school beetween 9:00 and 10:00

Jo mom this is gonna be your playtime with chase i want you to have mummy and me time

Colleen okay

Jo a 4:00 p.m. mum and me time with cory you need to give him your time as well and then at five o, clock he can sit down and do his homework at the table and at 6:00 p.m.

Jo i want you to sit down and have dinner and let,s give lots of affirmation and praise about what each person did during the day and how wonderful it was

Jo i feel about that

Colleen very excited

Chris i love it this is great this is a great thing that we need i was actually a smile from ear to ear

Jo this household desperately needed disciplne the children were always pushing the limits so i gave mom and dad the cool down area which was to beanbags where the children would go if they misbehaved

Jo no swearing no hitting no kicking or fighting okay when your children have a temper tantrum they will go to a cool down area

Jo after i,ve introduced the discipline technique

Jo i,ll wait around for a moment to happen where i can help the parents enforce the technique didn,t have to wait long

Cool down area
Chris chase look at daddy i,m gonna give you one warning

Chris daddys gonna put you in a cool down area if you don,t calm down and eat your food okay just eat your food and then you can go out and play you sit down for three minutes you think about it

Jo because you didn,t listen to daddy come down to this level talk to him come down

Chris chase the reason daddys put in here because you didn,t listen to me and eat your food okay

Jo a low of operatic voice

Jo walk away so nothing can just put him back into the beanbag

Chase daddy daddy

Chris come here

Jo how you feeling good

Chris take some time right now yeah

Jo thought you chase i,m ringing yeah

Chris i,ll do it you

Jo just about you breaking that cycle

Chris i wanted like an apology from you say daddy i,m sorry

Chris yeah that,s right now you don,t want to say you,re sorry

Chase no

Chris no then i,m gonna have to sit you in a cool down area stay there for a few minutes okay

Colleen yeah yes he understandeth not even has one for the bad behavior

Jo whatis it you feeling right now

Colleen no i fit i just feel bad that he,s upset

Chris better than it wat you should

Jo that,s screaming what,s your child doing

Colleen acting out for attention

Jo as a mother you know your children and you know what chase is doing that is a good thing

Jo i guess you recognize it okay so grab it take it and go as a mum

Jo i know exactly what my child is doing

Colleen as a mom i don,t very much is

Jo exactly and that,s what we want we want that positive attitude

Jo in a minute when you go over to him okay

Jo i say to him i want an apology for his behavior

Jo i want you to say you,re sorry

Chris last time i need you to say you,re sorry

Chase my throat hurts.

Chris okay fair enough

Chase sorry

Chris we,re working on to see her okay that was good you starting there but you need to lower your voice when you say that okay

Jo okay put your arms that say i am sorry

Chris say sorry

Jo daddy was sorry

Chris give daddy a hug tell me you,re sorry

Chase sorry

Chris thank you

Chris come here

Jo give him hugs and kisses

Mommy and Me Time
[...]

Jo (Interview): Corey made an Alligator and Chase destroyed it.

(Corey Crying)

Colleen: Oh no.

(Corey Cries)

Colleen: Sit down you don't destroy your brother's property!

Jo (Interview): Mom was so angry

Colleen: That was not nice he worked very hard on that!

Jo (Interview): She just put Chase straight into the cool down area it worked perfectly.

Colleen (Interview): I was very annoyed that Corey's Alligator got ruined. So I found the strength to put Chase in the cool down section.

Colleen: Tell Corey your sorry.

Chase: Sorry

Colleen: That's very good

Jo (Interview): She did a very good job I was proud of that.

Family Test Run
Colleen: Don't hit Corey you dont hit wait a Minute Stop

Corey: I already said I'm sorry.

Colleen: you can not learn not to hit People

Corey: Why is Chase not sitting there?

Chase: Corey hurt me.

Chris: You do not hit anyone

[...[

Colleen: I didn't see him doing that your imagining with that.

Jo: Look at pair of you arguing front of the children

Chris: As your husband to believe me what I saw

Jo: Your hot headed the pair of you

Colleen: Your using technique propitley your driving me nuts

Chris: Why i'm driving you nuts!?

Colleen: Because you put him in the seat because he swung at you!

Jo: This is very disapointing

Colleen: I didn't do anything. Mommy didn't do anything

Jo: We need to talk.