I certainly think that spending more time actually doing things with their children, the importance of coming home and having that half-an-hour, taking their kids to the park or actually doing things, whether they're cooking, whether they're making, they're being physically active, I want parents to be really pro-active, actually doing rather than sitting in front of the television. And just as you can see on the show, just showing the importance of taking that half-an-hour when you come home and that last half-an-hour before you go to bed.
I mean people think 'Oh that's simple' and 'That's what we do', but actually it's not consistent. So the average statistics that clock up are shocking really. Especially when you think about someone who owns a dog, they spend more time than that having to walk a dog, you know three or four times a day.
We're well into the school holidays now, what sort of cheap and fun activities can parents do with their children?
Well, I think that the most important thing is, if we're looking at great Britain I want people to reach-out, because everywhere is very different. But I think it's important for people to look at the resources that are available in their community because a lot of those institutions provide free activities for their kids to attend whether it's toddlers for the music and mime or the library storytellers. I think take advantage of our outdoors, especially when we've got the weather on our side, with regards to river side walks, getting out and being physical, using the parks as much as possible and I think the most important thing over the summer holidays is to pace yourself.
You know, kids also like to potter around in their own homes too and in their own back gardens. Make sure that you pace your holiday so that you're not doing something everyday and then you burn out. You may potter in your home, in the garden, have your friends around and then the next week have a week of adventure. There are lots of coupons as well, that I would encourage people to collect. I mean, certain supermarkets do coupons that allow you to get 2-for-1 or a family priced deal on some of the bigger adventures that are out there.
Reports have been claiming that you want to take time out and start a family, but you're explaining all these different things that you have coming up. So are you going to take time out?
No, I don't think time out do they? [Laughs] What you mean like bed rest and all of that? No I think that the press must have had a nice field day with all that or decided to put what they wanted. But Supernanny put me on the road 11 months out of the year so I literally lived out of a suitcase, and I don't think people actually comprehended that. I think that when I told them that I lived out of a suitcase, going from hotel to hotel, I think they thought that I was just saying that, but that's what my schedule was. So, not doing Supernanny and actually continuing to do what I do, because let's face it, what I do for a living was the Supernanny show, it may not be called the Supernanny show but you're still going to get what I did on the Supernanny, because that's what I do for a living.
It now means that I'm allowed to have a nice balance in my own life, to live somewhere and wake up in the same place somewhere, and to look at the possibilities of having a relationship and perhaps motherhood as well. I'll still continue to do my work and hopefully one day have a family too.
Jo Frost: Extreme Parental Guidance is on 24th August at 8pm on Channel 4.
Femalefirst Taryn Davies
Tagged in Parenting