Supernanny

When Jennifer and John Atkinson of Glen Ellyn, Illinois, married four years ago, they had a dream of blending their existing families and having more children, too. Jennifer already had two teenagers, Amanda, 14, and Abbey, 13, and John shares custody of his daughter, Julia, age 10, from a previous marriage. The couple then had two children together: Reese, 4, and Maeve, 2 1/2 years old. However, their hopes of creating a harmonious new family fell short, and they are officially at their wits' end. The oldest, Amanda, treats her mom terribly, openly defying her and bringing Jennifer to tears when she tells her she wishes her mom was dead. Reese has tremendous separation anxiety whenever John leaves the house and actually endangers herself by running pell-mell towards the street when he departs. Jo observes that the parents are coddling the children, being inconsistent about rules and parenting the children differently from each other. Can Jo get through to this family before it fractures?

For the first time, Jo works with a family with a newborn when she encounters the Peterfreund family in Arizona. Parents Keith and Sonya are so overwhelmed with their three older boys, Jett, 5 Gage, 3 and Trey, 2, that they're missing baby Myles' cues about wet diapers, feedings, etc. Mom literally has to run through the house after the active older boys with Myles hanging off her arm, head bobbing dangerously. Keith is a flight attendant and travels frequently, and Mom doesn't have enough arms for all the work! Neither parent is consistent about discipline, and their go-to punishment is "saucing" the three older kids, putting a dab of hot sauce on their lips. Can Jo show these overwhelmed parents of four how to parent effectively - without condiments?

All the cooks in this kitchen go by different recipes. Jenny's parenting style tends to be inattentive, while Grandma is the most regimented, being an ex-schoolteacher. Nanny Kadie was thrown into the mix to tend to the kids' needs and to cook meals, but was never given any kind of game plan by Jenny and Tony on disciplining the kids. With so many authority figures involved, the kids act differently with everyone, which pits the adults against each other. Dad feels that Grandma undermines his parenting decisions and priorities for his kids, and Jenny is just plain overwhelmed by the exhausting demands of so many youngsters. Can Jo help fix the Swift family?

A little dictator named Dylan rules the roost in the Van Ackers' Oak View, California, home, and parents Jessica, 34, and Kevin, 35, need to be liberated from his relentless tantrums and disrepect. Now three years old, Dylan refuses to be potty-trained and, worse, he's become anemic from his unbending preference for sugary snacks over vegetables and other nutritious foods. Supernanny Jo Frost embarks on a family revolution to instill parental discipline for the benefit of all, including six-year-old Emma, who can't even have quiet homework time with Mom without the distractions of her little brother's constant crying and complaining. It's a primetime clash of wills with more at stake than calm and discipline, as Jo tries to create a new household order necessary for Dylan's health.

A trip to Kissimmee, Florida, is no vacation for Supernanny Jo Frost as she finds the Fernandez family falling apart. Former high school sweethearts Jerald and Marla married young and now, years later, their relationship is in trouble. That's largely due to their inability to control their defiant 12-year-old daughter, Desiree, and two overly aggressive sons, Elias, 5, and Eulisis, 3. Mom's completely exhausted from trying to do it all, while Dad's frustrated and often unwilling to step up to the plate. Meanwhile, Desiree's developing a bad attitude and her grades are plummeting. And Elias and Eulisis are learning the wrong lessons -- that kicking, screaming and crying pay off to get what they want. The Fernandez family chaos even extends beyond the home, when a simple trip to a store becomes an out-of-control nightmare. Can Jo pick up the pieces and bring some discipline, peace and focus to this Florida family?

This San Antonio family is bursting at the seams with kids, conflict and aggression. Stay-at-home mom Joey-Lynn and her husband, Glenn, have five spirited daughters and a granddaughter all living under the same roof, and the exhausted couple have abdicated discipline. Their oldest, Samantha, 20, had a child as a teenager - their granddaughter Krissy, now age 2. Joey-Lynn and Glenn had Samantha when they were teenagers themselves, and feel as if they have failed as parents since Samantha had a promising future that has been changed by her young motherhood. Samantha and her next-oldest sister, Brooke, 17, despise each other and curse at each other in front of the younger siblings -- Savannah, 10, Hailey, 6, and Haidyn, 1+1/2 -- who in turn act out with boundary-pushing and aggressive behavior. Mom defers all discipline to Dad, who simply yells and doesn't follow through. Can Jo help this family defuse the anger?

A pushover mom, an exasperated dad and their six undisciplined kids all contribute to the mayhem in the Miller home. Traveling to Phoenix, Arizona, Jo Frost must help this family on the brink: Meshell can't say "No" and overindulges her children to make up for the extras she never had; David tries to instill some structure and respect, but he's exhausted from long days at work and too often shows his temper; without clear boundaries and consequences, the kids are mostly out of control - whether it's the youngest, Avarie (3), refusing to give up her bottle, or siblings Ainsley (5), Landon (7), Meryn (10) and Kendall (12) back-talking, fighting or leaving their clothes in a heap. The oldest Kesley (13) is increasingly troubled by her parents' mixed signals. She's considered responsible enough to babysit her younger sisters and brother overnight, but isn't allowed to go to an afternoon movie with her friends. One quick look at the "chore board" mounted on the wall - it's completely blank - lets Jo know of the work ahead of her.

This Melbourne, Florida family of five is in utter disarray. Stay-at-home mom Danielle, 33, is overwhelmed by her misbehaving two boys, Carlo, 4, and J.J., 3, while still trying to do her best with one-year-old Julia. While husband Joe works long hours, Danielle has to deal with J.J., who hits, kicks, slaps and pinches, and with Carlo, who is a picky eater and has a scream that, as his mom says, "takes your breath away." Ironically Danielle was a parenting educator before having children, but she doesn't enforce her own house rules and has lost sight of her personal dreams in the chaos at home. When Jo arrives, Danielle throws her arms around her in enthusiastic welcome, but later the two women go head to head on a nap time issue. Can Jo help this family find peace?

"This is my life, and it sucks," admits father-of-four Chris Potter. Chris and his wife, Joy, have four children who they feel are very disrespectful. Joy says that Chris is too "old school" - yelling, scaring the kids, and being too strict and temperamental. Noah, 10, has a strained relationship with his father, who berates him as a brat when he's angry, and the younger siblings also come under fire. Chris feels that Joy is undermining him by challenging his parenting style, which his own mother didn't do with his dad when he was growing up. Jo Frost observes that Joy is inconsistent about discipline, but also that Chris could break Noah's spirit if things don't change. Joy sadly tells Jo that her marriage is on the line if she and Chris can't get on the same page. Is it too late for this family to change for the better?

While Marine Major Chris Merrill is stationed overseas for a year in Afghanistan, Mom Beckie, 33, is fighting another battle on the home front with their four young children. Garrett, 4 and Elena, 4, are cousins they adopted from Guatemala; Eddie, 6 and Lydia, 4, were adopted just three months ago from Ghana. Beckie tries to balance her desire for attachment with all the children with the firmness required to discipline them. Eddie and Lydia, the newest family members, grapple with frustration over still learning the English language and a great fear of the dark, since in Ghana there were real-life fears of violence at nighttime in their community. All the children feel free to run outside at will and ignore Mom, bedtime is fraught with turmoil, and mealtimes can be a battle zone. Compounding these challenges is the fact that Mom, at times, feels overwhelmed, outnumbered and at her limit, and very much on her own while her husband is away. Can Supernanny bring peace to this Camp Pendleton home?

A tough New Jersey cop and his wife find they're in over their heads when dealing with four-year-old triplets and their older brother, Timmy, who's 11. The little ones pester their big brother, destroy things, and run out of the house unsupervised. Dad says, "We have three animals!" The parents think that time-outs don't work, so Mom's method of discipline is to lock the kids in their bedrooms while they scream, and Dad's method is to surrender. Mom is at home full time with the children while dad works, and when he comes home, he's on duty while she heads off to her own job. The relationship between Timmy and his father has deteriorated since the triplets arrived. Can Jo help repair that bond and also bring law and order to the Demotts?

The Froebrich parents get no respect. Erich and Beverly have 5 children ranging in age from 1 to 11 years old, and admit they need a Supernanny intervention. The Froebrich children smack, pinch, yell, fight and talk back, and homework is a battleground in which Mom brings her 11-year-old son to tears. Beverly's mom lives with the family since Beverly's dad died, and she considers her daughter a control freak; the stress for everyone has gotten worse since the death. Mom doesn't discipline the kids at all, but Dad will smack the children with a wooden spoon, pull their ears, and put hot sauce on their lips -- but neither parent's approach works. Can Jo help the family find peace without smacking?

Sylvia and Michael Federico have three boys, ages 2, 3 and 5. Mom openly admits she wants to be the fun mom rather than a disciplinarian. Both parents bribe the kids with junk food to get them to behave or to otherwise appease them. Mom brings a loaded backpack with sugary snacks when she takes the boys out in public to use for bribes if they misbehave or complain. The kids sneak snacks all day long, and the parents baby the children, especially Dominic, the 5-year-old. They brush his teeth for him, pick out his clothes and let him use the stroller at will, instead of his 2-year-old brother. When she tries to follow Jo's instructions for a time out, Sylvia calls it "torture." Can Jo get these parents to stop mollycoddling and ante up?

After six seasons, on the 117th episode and series finale of "Supernanny," Jo Frost travels to Houston, Texas to work with a family whose mom died of breast cancer a year earlier. Jo lost own her mother to breast cancer when she was growing up. "To me, this is the end of the world!," laments 6-year-old Michael, who misses his mother terribly and feels his memories of her slipping away. Dad Gary is trying his best to raise Michael and younger sons Sean, 4 and Dylan, 3, on his own, but he's overwhelmed and can't bring himself to enforce the rules his wife established for the boys. The boys act out, there's lots of sibling fighting and their screaming can be deafening at times. In addition, Dylan still isn't potty trained, and all the boys are picky eaters and devoted to unhealthful foods. When Sean acts up over not getting candy and Jo puts him into his first time out in ages, an epic standoff takes place. Can Jo help this grieving family find peace?