Nanny 911: The Race Family
Little Strangers in My Home
Recap By Shelley Tam
December 15, 2005
Well, it's been awhile since the last N911 episode. In fact, when Fox started to advertise last week's episode, I completely blanked and forgot to watch it. If it wasn't for the fact that my husband reminded me on Monday, I would've forgotten this week too. I guess Fox doesn't really look at N911 as a ratings grabber, for all of the advertising it does for the show. I guess since Prison Break finished, Fox figured it might as well air the remaining episodes.
It's hard to say which one of the nanny series is better (Supernanny vs. N911) since both deal with similar issues. My only beef with the Fox series is that it always feels gimmicky to me. The whole Nanny Central, their outfits and then the contrived camera shots are things I can do without. Don't get me wrong, Supernanny does some of this too, but it's just not as obvious.
This week we have the Nannis family consisting of Amy and Bryan plus 6 kids. Apparently the Nannis have been quite busy having had 6 kids in 7 years. That's quite a feat in itself and I have great respect for any woman who can be pregnant for 6 years straight.
The kids are:
Maggie - 5 months - Too young to be a terror.
Thomas - 1.5 yr - Entered the terrible twos early.
Emory - 3 - Gets into everything. Plays in the toilet. Likes to paint w/ his feces.
Mary - 5 - Sassy and has no respect for adults.
Abigail - 7 - Mischievous
Caroline - 8 - The 3rd parent, she does a lot of the chores and whines a lot.
The Parents' Comments:
Brian - "It's ok to have a lot of children. They can be controlled. Our household is crazy but it's normal crazy. We tend to have a lot of meltdowns." Boy Brian, are you ever observant. Yes children can be controlled and it's obvious that your children are not. America, I think we have the winner for the "Most Clueless Father" Award. Brian is also supremely religious and uses the church to get away from his family. He spends all of his free time at church and he says, "Being at church is a relief."
Amy - "My house is crazy. The kids fight and get into everything. I don't know what to do anymore. My husband is also never home. He can't say no to the church but he can say no to his wife. It's nice that he gets to do what he enjoys, but what about me? Why don't I get to do what I enjoy too?"
After reviewing the footage, the Nannies confer and agree - "Any man can father 6 children but it takes a real man to be a dad." Nanny Yvonne is dispatched.
Nanny Yvonne arrives and meets the family. She meets the family and observes.
Brian gets to go to work and cheerfully leaves. As soon as he leaves, Amy wearily sinks into the couch and seemingly looks like she mentally checks out. Her kids are running crazy, fighting, and screaming, and she finds ways to minimize her interactions with them. The kids are unattended for the most part. Emory decides that eating napkins would be a good thing. The other kids are left to their own devices and amuse themselves. Amy also distributes chores to her older kids. The oldest ends up with the brunt of the responsibilities. When Mom tries to get Mary, the five-year-old, to do something, Mary just smart mouths her. She calls her mom "Mangy Beast" and runs away. Wow…and she's just five. Imagine what she'll call her mom when she's fifteen.
I'm at a loss to even imagine what it would be like to be stuck indoors with 6 screaming kids. I think I would've had my tubes tied long before 6 kids would've come to being. Also, some of the kids are old enough to be going to school. In fact, the four oldest should all be in school from preschool to third grade. If Brian and Amy are home schooling them, I'm not seeing any education going on here. I think Amy's quality of life would improve immeasurably by sending her kids to school, and it would allow her kids to interact with other kids of their own age. Anyone cooped up with their family constantly would go crazy (believe me, I know…..I start to climb the walls after 3 hours with the in-laws.)
Back to the show, when Brian gets home, the situation goes from bad to worse. Instead of trying to play with his kids, he sits down for dinner and ignores his kids. At dinnertime, the kids are quiet for the first time all day and Yvonne is amazed at the lack of communication between the entire family. After dinner, the kids start to act up again, and Brian can't get out of his house fast enough. He takes off to go to church and the kids again go crazy. Mom is left with a crazed look on her face at the end of the night. She's probably thinking about serving a round of cough syrup shots to all her kids just to get some piece and quiet (Hey, before you all start sending hate mail to me….all parents out there know all about the secret of cough syrup. It tastes good and your kids go to sleep. How do you think I found out about it?)
It's time for Nanny Yvonne's feedback.....
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