The Ball Family

The Ball Family is the 10th episode of series 2 of the British Supernanny TV show.

Synopsis[]

"Thirty-three-year-old Michelle Ball lives in South London with her two sons, three-year-old Ryan and one-year-old Kyle.

Michelle used to be an outgoing woman brimming with confidence and ambition. A Latin dance champion, she lived life to the full.

But four years later she's a full-time mum and things couldn't be more different. Even though he's three, Ryan is still in nappies, acts like a baby and is violently jealous of his little baby brother Kyle. Even with Gran's full-time help, Mum doesn't have a minute for his baby brother, and even less for herself.

Can Supernanny Jo Frost put an end to the misery and give Michelle her life back?

Jo shakes up the household by sending Gran away, enforcing a strict routine, stopping Ryan demanding to be carried all the time, getting rid of the dummies and nappies, giving him a Haircut, and imposing a proper bedtime routine.

Things pick up until Supernanny finds Michelle in floods of tears." - Channel 4 website

Submission Reel:

33-year-old single Mother Michelle Ball used to be an outgoing woman who was a Latin Dance champion. That was until she had three-year-old Ryan and one-year-old Kyle. Ryan is controlling with his screaming, shouting, and extreme aggression. If he doesn't want to do something, he'll keep going on and on until his Mom agrees. Two weeks after Kyle was born, Michelle found herself as a single Mother to two. Because of that, Ryan still has a pacifier, nappies, and behaves just like his baby brother. He's also very jealous of his baby brother and doesn't want him to get any of his Mom's time. If she holds him, he'll throw a tantrum. If she plays with him, he'll throw a tantrum. It's gotten to the point where she has to hold two kids at once.

Her 69-year-old Mom Iris has agreed to help her out. If Ryan needs her attention, she'll take Kyle away. She feels like she's Kyle's Mom and Michelle's Ryan's. She loves her grandsons but she feels like she's doing too much. With Ryan throwing constant fits, Kyle never gets his Mom's time. In fact, Iris has more of a bond with him than she does. Kyle will beam and run up to her as soon as he sees her making Michelle jealous. Michelle is exhausted with Ryan's constant tantrums.

Observation:

Jo arrives to meet Michelle and the boys right as Michelle has to get Ryan in for his day at nursery, something he dislikes. However, first, Michelle has to get ready and Ryan knows exactly what that means for her. She tells Jo he has to be at nursery by 9. By 8:30, Michelle is still showering and Kyle is still in bed for his nap leaving Jo to watch Ryan outside leaving her to realize just how much Michelle needs a routine.

When she does get out, she needs to get Ryan dressed and he has a dummy in his mouth as usual. This is where the first tantrum of the day starts. Ryan complains he wants to lay down so Michelle allows him to and tries to take his shirt off. However, he keeps crawling away from her as he cries. Instead of telling him to get dressed, she asks him if he wants to. This causes him to kick his Mom and scream. Michelle reveals through tears that she can't cope with him and doesn't like to see him cry. He decides he doesn't want to go as he calms down a little bit. He complains he wants nothing on. Ryan ends up falling asleep on his bed. Michelle sobs that she feels like a failure since she won't be able to wake him up in time to get him to nursery. Jo gives her a reassuring squeeze and reminds her that how she's feeling is totally normal. Jo ends up looking at her watch and sees it's now 9:30 and he's still asleep.

One hour later, the boys are up again and Gran Iris has arrived which means Kyle can have his food. Ryan continues his explosive tantrum. and Iris watches on. Jo sees this and pulls her outside to talk about it. She admits that she wishes she could do more for her even if she already is trying to help parent the boys as it is. When Iris steps back in, she convinces Ryan to go to nursery.

By the time Ryan returns, everything starts all over. Ryan refuses to listen, throws tantrums if he wants something, is aggressive with his brother, and demands his Mom hold him and Kyle. It gets to the point where Iris has to grab Kyle so Michelle can hold Ryan and so he can get his Mom's full attention. Jo realizes that if they both want Mom, Iris has to come in and take one child away and that child is not Ryan. When bedtime comes, Gran puts Kyle to bed so Michelle can warm up Ryan's baby bottle and give him three dummies so he can actually lie down. Even with them, Michelle has to spend two hours in his bed reading the same story until he can fall asleep. Jo realizes that Michelle has a ton of emotional issues that cause her to not discipline Ryan or tell him off.

Parents Meeting:

Jo praises Michelle for loving her boys and that she's extremely lucky to have Iris next to her side throughout the day. She then discusses Michelle's parenting role with Kyle VS Ryan, Ryan's aggression, his tantrums, and him still behaving like a baby.

Teaching:

The first thing Jo wants to see is Michelle thanking Iris for everything she's done and giving her a break.

The next thing, is the morning routine. To do this, Jo arrives two hours before Ryan has to go to school. Jo gives her a schedule and she's showered and dressed by 7:30. Now, it's time for the hardest part. Michelle wakes him but doesn't respond to him when he asks if he's going to school. Instead, she picks out his outfit. When he says he doesn't want to choose anything, she tells him he has to or else she will. At this, he picks his option but he starts to throw a fit but with the distraction of Jo and his Mom, he's able to get dressed. When he's told he can't be carried, he whines in disapproval. When given the option between walking by himself, or holding his Mom's hand, he complains he wants to be carried. Jo makes Michelle choose one so she chooses to hold Kyle and hold Ryan's hand. He goes downstairs but continues crying as Michelle gets Kyle dressed. However, he slowly calms down and plays outside. The next step is breakfast where Ryan behaves beautifully. After breakfast, it's time to leave. However, Ryan still isn't excited about nursery. Michelle ignores this and Jo praises her for getting Ryan in the car on time.

When he returns, Jo has to implement her naughty circle. He will go there anytime he misbehaves. He receives a firemen reward chart which he thinks is 'Fireman Sam.' However, he realizes it's instead Fireman Ryan. He goes outside with his Mom and Kyle and begins pushing his brother to the floor to make him cry which he gets warned for. When he purposefully trips him when he pushes a toy car, he gets put inside and on the naughty circle. He throws a slight tantrum but stays there. When Michelle returns for him, he apologizes without being told to so he's allowed off the circle. Ryan still has to move his firemen down a runt.

Once one-year-old Kyle is in bed, it's bath-time for Ryan. He begins to throw a fit about it. He kicks and screams causing Michelle to have to take his shoes off by herself. Jo instructs her on how to get him ready for a bath while he throws his fit. Even when undressed, not even the refreshing water or bath toys can encourage him to calm down. Michelle doesn't even get him in the bath. She has to bathe him on the floor with a soapy towel. It may take fourty-five minutes but with Michelle's persistence, Ryan calms down. Jo relaxes Michelle and reminds her not to fear it and he'll stop quicker.

The next step, in his bedtime routine is one book one time. In the past, Ryan's fallen asleep to his Mom whispering the same lines over and over. When he gets out, Jo walks her through the bedtime routine. This time, since he's young, Michelle will have to relax herself in his room but not talk to him or show him she's there. After he's given a cuddle, he demands she lay with him. When he gets out, Michelle is to place him back but she tells him it's 'nighttime.' He makes every excuse he can from wanting the tellie on, to wanting a cuddle, milkshakes, and to even wanting to sit with his Mom but with Michelle pushing through, he runs out of excuses and goes to bed. He had delayed his sleep by two hours but she didn't let her guard down and give in.

Jo returns the next day to find all of Michelle's confidence out the window. She had been up all night and was very emotional. This time, it wasn't because of Ryan. Baby Kyle's tantrum had gotten so severe that Michelle had to lay with him and in the end, carry him to her bed. Once there, he still didn't calm down until four. By six, Ryan decided he was ready to get up so she got all but two hours of uninterrupted sleep. However, Jo helps her relax. She reminds her she's exhausted and had a very successful day the day before and that she needs a break. She encourages her to continue on with the rest of her day.

With Michelle now more relaxed, the next issue is to have Ryan behaving more like a toddler so there will be no more dummies. This technique comes in several stages. The first stage is that when Ryan is playing and having fun during the day, that he is to have the dummies out. He closes his play house door and runs off realizing what was going on. When he's laid down and they are taken off him, he throws a fit. When he sees his Mom put them up, he gets even more upset. Even the promise of them at bedtime isn't helping to soothe Ryan's mood. The two ignore his tantrum in hopes it will stop. When it does, Jo moves onto her next technique. It's time that Ryan stops screaming to be carried. When Michelle tries to tell him he can follow her downstairs, he starts grabbing her leg like usual. When this does happen, she repeats herself and grabs his hand so he isn't held. Eventually, Ryan does agree and the two can go downstairs.

Jo doesn't want to take Ryan away from his Mom but rather, encourage him to be independent and the best way to do that, is by him helping his Mom with the chores. When given jobs to do around the house, it helps him understand how big of a job it is to be a big brother and to get positive attention when he acts more grown up. His behavior is improving too. His firemen is almost near the top! With Ryan no longer taking up all of Michelle's time, she can play with one-year-old Kyle without any interruptions. When Ryan sees Kyle playing with his Mom, instead of getting jealous, he joins in with their reading making it time with both sons.

On Jo's final night of teaching, it's time for Michelle to leave Ryan's room while he tries to get off to sleep. Instead, she will be in her room where he sneaks in. He cries outside her door with his dummies but Jo has instructed her to leave him unless he comes for her. After one more time, he stops coming out but he's still screaming. This is even harder for Michelle to ignore. However, she stays strong and her perseverance once again pays off. Michelle and Jo head downstairs to say goodbye. With reminders of the techniques, she leaves the house.

Test Run

Life without Jo starts off excellent. Michelle gets Ryan to school on time and he gets far more excited about it. To make things more difficult for herself, she decides to take Ryan to do one of his least favorite things: getting his hair cut. Although he does throw a tantrum to start with, Michelle reassures him he'll be alright with a calm voice to show him. Another big improvement of the moment comes when Michelle doesn't raise her voice or end up in tears.

However, as the week continues on, Michelle's struggling. She gives him a firm warning when he won't let her put his clothes on but doesn't turn him around. Her major mistake though is not following through. She continues to reason with him and it leads her to give him an uneeded second warning. When she does decide it's time, she feels for him when he starts to cry and she tells him to turn around and get dressed again. After a third warning, Ryan's on the circle. Ryan starts to cry and runs off to find her as Kyle starts crying for his Mom's attention. However, she hasn't practiced putting him back so she continues to speak to him. When she does get him back, she decides to give him the timer. Of course, he messes with it, typical toddler behavior. However, when Michelle discovers this, she makes him sit there even longer. However, this only fuels his temper. He continues to escape and she continues to talk to him. Despite the fact that he hasn't even spent thirty seconds on the circle, Michelle decides his time is up and agrees he's had enough. Even though his fireman does move down, she doesn't get an apology.

As the week progresses, Michelle shows even less improvement. Now, Ryan has gone back to tormenting his brother. Once again, Michelle has gone back to screaming and this especially shows when Ryan crawls into Kyle's crib and begins to bully him. She lifts him out and loses her patience at both boys. Michelle has gone under the water and to show any chance of making it back up, she has to succeed putting Ryan to bed. She starts well by staying firm, however, she hugs him not wanting to hear him scream. She leaves the room directly after. Even though she does continue on with the technique, her decision to give in has left him wanting back for more. An hour later, Ryan has escaped fifty times.

Dvd meeting:

Jo has returned and has seen clips of Michelle's week.

Clip One:

The two watch a clip of Michelle trying to discipline Ryan for not listening. Jo lectures her on her refusing to put him there and therefore, stalling. Michelle says she never remembered if she did or didn't but Jo tells her she's ruined the technique. When Jo sees Ryan hold the timer, she's not amused either. She reveals she did a first for her and not in a good way. What makes the situation worse, was that Ryan, who was just being a toddler, had an extra three minutes.

Clip Two:

Even though the stay-in-bed technique worked well from the start, Michelle once again ruins it by hugging him when he cries for one. Jo tells her if she continues, he'll keep excuses. Jo advises her to give him as much love as she wants before the technique instead of stalling and doing it midway through.

Reinforcement:

Now that Ryan's continued to make progress and is still being a big boy, it's time he got some new underwear to show how big of a boy he is. He's excited and puts them on with no fuss. However, he refuses to use the toilet. Since he's still learning, he can't go on the naughty circle so Michelle just has to remind him what to do. Eventually, he does give in and he does it well too. He continues to show how he wants independence and is learning to express it in a positive way. However, when Ryan refuses to get off the table to eat, he's put on the circle. Like before, he won't stay there. However, now Michelle can carry him back. When Michelle can't take it hearing him scream, Jo once again has to step in and help her. When he does get off, he apologizes.

On Supernanny's last day, Iris spends time with her daughter and her grandsons. She's impressed of the changes. Michelle is too. Now, she has more confidence than ever before. Even though Ryan doesn't like sharing his toys, it doesn't lead to a tantrum. Kyle even gets time with his Mom. With that, Jo says goodbye to Ryan and reassures Michelle that she has got the confidence before leaving.

Update:

Two weeks have passed since, and since Ryan has behaved better, now Michelle can get the boys out of the house and to an indoor play-ground. Iris reveals she likes not having to be there for Michelle and be a parent for Kyle when she couldn't. Because Ryan has started listening, he's gotten rewarded in more ways than one. Kyle and Michelle's relationship has become just as close as Michelle and Ryan's. Michelle shows her confiidence by announcing things can only get better. Ryan's bedtime has greatly improved too.

The biggest improvement comes when Michelle takes herself out dancing again. She enjoys herself out and she realizes the reason she may've been so miserable is because she stepped away from it when Ryan was born.

Family

Person	Age	Relation to Family
Michelle Ball	33 (born 1971-1972)	Mother
Iris	69 (born 1935-1936)	Grandmother
Ryan Ball	3 (born 2002)	Son
Kyle Ball	1 (born 2004)	Son

The child was disciplined via one of Jo Frost's techniques.

Trivia[]

In 2025, Ryan is now 23. Kyle is now 21, Iris is now 89, and Michelle is now 53.
This was the second episode where the Bye Bye Bottle technique was used.
This was the second episode where the jealous eldest child bullies the youngest child during sibling rivalry. The first being The Weston Family where Andrew often tends to bully Sean.
In one scene, Ryan was seen naked and for some reason, his ass was left uncensored. On Supernanny, nudity is regularly or is required to be censored, even though it occurs on children.
This was the first Supernanny UK episode to impliment the Sleep Seperation technique

Gallery[]

Behind The Scenes[]

This episode was filmed in June 2005
Ryan is seen playing with Thomas the tank engine toys and a Little Tikes car.
Ryan's Reward chart is based on the Fire Brigade outfit from Fireman Sam. He even references the show at one point.
Kyle could be seen wearing Winnie The Pooh Pyjamas and the family have a Winnie The Pooh window shade on their car.

Events Post-Supernanny[]

Ryan took photographs of a run-down park using Michelle's camera. The photos Ryan took were then sent to council and clean-up efforts went underway since then.^[1]

References[]

↑ Operation playtime! How one boy and his camera shamed council into sprucing up park. DailyMail (June 2, 2010).

External Links[]

Series 2
The Collins Family • The Hemingway-Clegg Family • The Pandit Family • The D Family • The Cooke Family • The Seniors Family • The Bradbury-Lambert Family • The A Family • The Young Family • The Ball Family • The Bixley Family • The Woods Family Return

[1] Operation playtime! How one boy and his camera shamed council into sprucing up park. DailyMail (June 2, 2010).

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