Enio, 5 years old, howls like a pig being slaughtered. “I’m hungry, hurry up and get me something to eat!” », he orders his mother, whose dark circles fall to her knees. Jennifer, 23, had three children in five years by three different fathers, all of whom disappeared from circulation.
Red glasses and a black suit, Sylvie Jenaly, alias Super Nanny, arrives at breakfast time in the living room, clean as a whistle, where the only books are those on the trompe-l’oeil wallpaper. On the menu for Enio, a bowl of hot milk filled with Tagada strawberries. “ It’s been twenty-five years that I take care of children, I had never seen that “confides the shock housekeeper facing the camera. Then Jennifer asks her son for permission to leave the table, under the bewildered gaze of Super Nanny. “I feel like I have to obey him, and that’s what I do, otherwise it’s insults”explains, tired, the young single mother.
For ten years, on TFX, the script of the show has therefore been repeated tirelessly. For two days, Super Nanny observes, frowning and pen in hand, the daily life of parents overwhelmed by unmanageable children, then, after kindly lecturing the adults (“You don’t threaten your child with vegetables”) post the new house rules on the living room wall: “I don’t hit my mother”, “I sleep in my bed”, “I don’t poo in the bathtub”. Magic of TV, family bliss is at the end of the road. In five days, the little Gremlins are transformed into perfect copies of the Ingalls children, minus the braids. And parents no longer have hives at the mere thought of taking them to the supermarket.
More kindness, gentleness
Just like “Pascal, the big brother” (from 2006 to 2013 on TF1), “Super Nanny” – the first version of which was broadcast between 2005 and 2010 on M6, with the late Cathy Sarraï as the savior of homes – had largely contributed to popularizing the profession of family coach, whose success went hand in hand with an abundant literature of pediatricians and child psychiatrists on the subject: For a happy childhoodby Catherine Gueguen (Pocket, 2015); 3-6-9-12, taming screens and growing up, by Serge Tisseron (Erès, 2013), etc. But, in 2017, “Super Nanny” was the subject of numerous reports to the CSA, questioning its educational methods considered brutal. Viewers denounce punishments from another time, such as putting a child in the corner or isolating him in his room.
In ten years, Sylvie Jenaly, governess by profession, has met 60 families and more than 300 children through the show. “I am neither a doctor nor a psychologist, I just offer them tailor-made rules”, specifies the Super Nanny in each episode. However, it has adapted to the times. More benevolence, gentleness, without renouncing his vision of authority which, if it remains controversial, has found powerful allies. Psychology doctor Caroline Goldman, who denounces the pitfalls of positive education, has been there, and it seems that it has not escaped the production. “Go to your room” and don’t bring her back. This reassures the public. Finally, it is not so complicated to raise children.
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