The Kerns Family

Episode summary
Jo visits Evansville, Wisconsin to help the Kerns Family. Shawn (30) and Shannon (24) have three children, 4-year-old twin boys, Brandon and Bryce. The twins mistreat their 2-year-old sister, Brenna.

Shawn and Shannon are working parents who work different shifts, so they are rarely at home at the same time. This makes it hard for them to be on the same page about parenting. The boys run out of the house constantly, swear and flip off their mom, and barge into the next-door neighbor's yard, with no consequences from their mom or dad.

Brandon was put in the Naughty Circle for 4 minutes in this episode for crying and throwing a tantrum about outside.

Shawn and Jo also take the boys to the supermarket during Teaching.

Submission reel
Shannon and Shawn (who looks very annoyed) explain that they have three children: Brandon, Bryce and Brenna. The footage shows Bryce reaching out and grabbing Brenna by the ankle, causing her to fall flat on the sidewalk and cry.

Observation
Shannon and Shawn greet Jo warmly. Jo watches them play in the backyard with the kids. However, after only a short time, the boys decide to jump their neighbor's fence. Jo follows to see Brandon throwing a ball at the neighbor's head. When Jo asks the neighbor about this, the neighbor says it goes on all the time. Both boys also hit at her stomach, which is assault since the neighbor is pregnant. Shawn seems oblivious to what is going on. Eventually, he takes the boys back to their yard, but with no interaction or apology for the neighbor.

After that, it's lunchtime. Shannon has prepared a cheap deli pizza for lunch. When she calls the family to the table, Brandon makes a run for it. Shannon is unable to prevent him from escaping through the patio door. He runs around in circles around the house. Shawn chases him and carries him back inside. Almost as soon as he has brought Brandon back into the house, Brandon escapes again. Once finally settled to dinner, Brandon spits his bite of pizza onto the floor. Shannon tells him that's gross but doesn't do anything about it.

When Brandon refuses to stay at the table and eat, Shannon follows him to his room, then locks the bedroom door on him. Unlike most interior doors, this one has the lock on the outside so that Shannon and Shawn can lock their kids into the room if they are tired of putting up with them. Shannon returns to the kitchen and explains to Jo that Brandon is locked into his room. Jo is stunned. After a bit, Shannon comes back upstairs and asks Brandon if he'll behave. He says yes, so she opens the door.

Back downstairs, Brenna finds Brandon's chewed-up pizza that he had spit on the floor. She picks it up and eats it. Jo, looking queasy, tells Shannon that Brenna's eaten the chewed-up pizza. She can't even finish her sentence. Shannon says to Brenna, "That's gross," but doesn't really do anything about it. She picks up what is left of the chewed-up pizza from the floor.

Jo reports, "Honestly, I thought I was going to throw up when I saw that."

Shannon explains, "When Jo told me what Brenna did, it didn't really faze me because Brenna is always picking up what the boys leave behind."

After lunch, Shannon is tidying a bedroom closet with one hand, drinking a Red Bull out of the other hand. Jo asks where the kids are. "Shawn is chasing them down," she says. "I think."

"But where are they?" asks Jo.

"Oh, they can't be more than 3 houses down," says Shannon. "But you're not sure?" says Jo. "Well, they're with their dad. I think," says Shannon.

She and Jo go outside. The twins are playing in a neighbor's yard, unattended. "Shawn's not here!" Jo exclaims. "Where's Brenna?"

"Well, Shawn must have Brenna," says Shannon. "I think."

Shawn appears with Brenna, He explains he had all the kids with him, but then Brenna wanted to look at something a little longer than the twins did, so the twins ran ahead. They were separated for less than 5 minutes, so Shawn doesn't know why Shannon is so upset. They all go inside, but Shawn and Shannon continue to bicker. Jo notes that once the children's safety is ensured with boundaries in place, they really need to work on parenting.

Around 8:30 p.m., the kids are all tired, but there is no real bedtime. "Instead," reports Jo, "it's showtime!" Shawn turns on a DVD and the twins settle down to watch the video. Shannon explains they just let the twins sit there until they fall asleep on the sofa. Then they'll carry the twins to their bedroom.

One or both of the twins might later come into the parents' bedroom to sleep, which may mean that one of the parents will then go back to the twins' room to sleep with one of the twins. "My goodness! Musical beds?" Jo asks incredulously.

Shannon does try to put Brenna to bed, but she just keeps getting up. Shawn tries putting her back to the bed the next couple of times. After that, they stop trying. It's almost 11 p.m. by the time the twins fall asleep. They're passed out on the couch. Brenna has been put to bed. Jo excuses herself for the night.

Parent meeting
Jo calls Shawn and Shannon "lazy, the pair of you. You're lazy parents." She asks what made them give up and Shawn says, "I just got tired of hearing my own voice," because he would yell all the time and not be heard.

Shannon says she knows these two weeks with Jo are going to be the hardest they've faced as a family, but they're ready for it and she's willing to learn. Jo reminds her that they need to do more than learn. "Yes, we need to do it," says Shannon.

Teaching
Jo brings out a tall post (the "Long List") that holds up signs listing all the wrong things Shannon and Shawn do. These include:
 * No Positive Incentives
 * No Structure
 * No Authority
 * No Fun
 * Ignoring
 * Giving up
 * Empty threats
 * Not playing with the kids
 * No daily routine
 * No positive communication
 * Not supporting your spouse
 * No follow-through
 * Disengaged with kids
 * No boundaries
 * No control
 * No discipline
 * Swearing in front of kids

Family members

 * Shawn Kerns, 30 (Born 1978)
 * Shannon Kerns, 24 (Born July 1984)
 * Brandon and Bryce, 4 (Born January 12, 2004)
 * Brenna, 2 (Born July 1, 2006)

Trivia

 * Shawn & Shannon could've faced charges of child neglect as they are lazy and hardly perform any discipline on their kids.
 * Shannon and Shawn divorced.
 * Shannon remarried she is now Shannon Casbon but she is very rude because she blocks people on Instagram over Supernanny!

Behind the scenes
This was filmed in August 2008.