Jo Frost has been up and down the country speaking to you
Jo Frost is the ulitmate Supernanny. She's been on our screens helping to raise our kids and introduced us to the infamous Naughty Step - what a god send.
Her skills at getting kids to behave, eat their food and get to bed at a reasonable time have sometimes astounded us, just how does she do it?
Well, she continues to provide us with programmes that give useful tips and just show that sometimes maybe your child isn't as bad as you first think.
Extreme Parental Guidance has been on the past few weeks and as it comes to the end of the series (sob, we know) we speak to Jo who tells us what it's like to not live out of a suitcase anymore, what new things we get to see on her show and her hopes of maybe starting a family herself.
We're coming the end of the series of Extreme Parental Guidance, for anyone who hasn't seen it, do you want to tell us what it's about?
It's looking at parental issues and topics that surround us today, in the 21st century. And with regards to the show it clearly seperated into segments that allow us to digest and absorb the information.
And what we will see is me going into people's homes, helping them with issues that they know they are struggling with, so as you know we've been seeing a couple with discipline and eating situations. But what we are going to look at, which is very important to me is the amount of family time that we actually spend together and how we can improve that, because it's something that families always come to me and say that's what they struggle with, trying to find that time to actually be together.
And for the first time ever, I decided to take myself up and down Great Britain for a road show, so that people will know where I was and I could answer people's questions and they could come in and let me know their concerns. The idea was that we could get people to relate to other families, to educate and to be able to show other families how we can overcome those obstacles that are very, very prominent in their society.
What happens in this series that people may have not seen before?
Well, we have the road show, that's new. And actually we made a consious decision to spread over the topic of family time over the series. Rather than looking at six different types, I want the audience to absorb all of the information and to be able to have that over a process of weeks, which this allows them to do that to be able to make those fundamental changes. Because those changes that are shown and the detriment and the impact allows everybody to do that, it's not something unrealistic that they couldn't achieve.
You've recently finished the book tour, how did that go?
Oh, it was great. If you can imagine, for eight years people have seen me on television tackling lots of different parental issues with toddlers and certainly with the first birth a lot of parents stuggle with the toddler years so bringing out a book that has all of that information in there was quite liberating for them. It's been very, very successful.
I was pleased with the outcome that people had picked up the book. Ofcourse we had success with it going to Number 1, which shows me that parents out there buying the book are receiving the knowledge and that to me is really important because the first four years in a child's life are absolutely crucial.
You revealed the statistic that the average parent spends less than 49 minutes a day doing things with their child - what sort of things can parents do to increase this time?
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
Jo Frost is the ulitmate Supernanny. She's been on our screens helping to raise our kids and introduced us to the infamous Naughty Step - what a god send.
Her skills at getting kids to behave, eat their food and get to bed at a reasonable time have sometimes astounded us, just how does she do it?
Some people spend more time walking their dog than spending time doing things with their children
Well, she continues to provide us with programmes that give useful tips and just show that sometimes maybe your child isn't as bad as you first think.
Extreme Parental Guidance has been on the past few weeks and as it comes to the end of the series (sob, we know) we speak to Jo who tells us what it's like to not live out of a suitcase anymore, what new things we get to see on her show and her hopes of maybe starting a family herself.
We're coming the end of the series of Extreme Parental Guidance, for anyone who hasn't seen it, do you want to tell us what it's about?
It's looking at parental issues and topics that surround us today, in the 21st century. And with regards to the show it clearly seperated into segments that allow us to digest and absorb the information.
And what we will see is me going into people's homes, helping them with issues that they know they are struggling with, so as you know we've been seeing a couple with discipline and eating situations. But what we are going to look at, which is very important to me is the amount of family time that we actually spend together and how we can improve that, because it's something that families always come to me and say that's what they struggle with, trying to find that time to actually be together.
And for the first time ever, I decided to take myself up and down Great Britain for a road show, so that people will know where I was and I could answer people's questions and they could come in and let me know their concerns. The idea was that we could get people to relate to other families, to educate and to be able to show other families how we can overcome those obstacles that are very, very prominent in their society.
What happens in this series that people may have not seen before?
Well, we have the road show, that's new. And actually we made a consious decision to spread over the topic of family time over the series. Rather than looking at six different types, I want the audience to absorb all of the information and to be able to have that over a process of weeks, which this allows them to do that to be able to make those fundamental changes. Because those changes that are shown and the detriment and the impact allows everybody to do that, it's not something unrealistic that they couldn't achieve.
You've recently finished the book tour, how did that go?
Oh, it was great. If you can imagine, for eight years people have seen me on television tackling lots of different parental issues with toddlers and certainly with the first birth a lot of parents stuggle with the toddler years so bringing out a book that has all of that information in there was quite liberating for them. It's been very, very successful.
I was pleased with the outcome that people had picked up the book. Ofcourse we had success with it going to Number 1, which shows me that parents out there buying the book are receiving the knowledge and that to me is really important because the first four years in a child's life are absolutely crucial.
You revealed the statistic that the average parent spends less than 49 minutes a day doing things with their child - what sort of things can parents do to increase this time?
Tagged in Parenting