03x02 - The Scharnitzky Family

[bunniefuu]

NARRATOR: 'They're every parent's worst nightmare.'

You're gonna be sorry. GIRL SCREAMS

'Kids, completely out of control...'

Give me the Kn*fe. '..and taking over the household.'

I'm the boss!

'These families have reached the end of the rope.'

How was I to know I was gonna have three kids in two years?

'They're in desperate need of help.' Shut up, everyone!

'They only have one alternative left.

'It's time to contact Nanny .'

PHONE RINGS

Hello, this is Nanny .

'We've gathered a team of world-class nannies

'from all over the globe.

'Each week, from Nanny Central, they will watch a video

'of a family in crisis...'

GIRL SCREAMS

'..and decide which nanny is best suited to help.

'They will then have one week to take our families

'from living hell to a family bliss.'

- Give me my life back. - It's mine!

'Can these families be saved?'

I don't love you.

It's an emotional rollercoaster.

Unless you get this right, it's all gonna fall to pieces.

If you think you can do a better job, get on with it.

'Parents of America, help is on the way.'

The nanny's here.

The nanny's here!

'Tonight, Jennifer and J Scharnitzky's

'three little soldiers are marching to the b*at

'of a different drummer.'

We've tried bribes, we've tried time out.

We're running out of options of things to try.

'While mom Jennifer fights the w*r at home every day...'

I don't want more.

'..marine dad takes the fight to enemies far away.'

The kids are almost as bad as the enemy.

'Can Nanny Stella get the Scharnitzkys to fall in line?'

Even though mom and dad

don't think they're being manipulated...

SHE CRIES

..the kids have taken over.

'It's "when daddy comes marching home."'

The children are actually running the show.

'Tonight, on Nanny .'

HIGH-PITCHED SCREAMING

CHILDREN CRY

Don't you dare touch that fork.

I'm Jennifer Scharnitzky and I'm married to a marine.

I have three energetic children.

CHILDREN CRY

No, ma'am, don't hit. My name is John Scharnitzky.

Everybody calls me J.

I like to think of my family as my little fire team or squad.

SHE WAILS

Being a father and a marine...

I've got to clean his butt too?

'..they're quite similar.'

Did he have an accident? Pshoo!

The kids are almost as bad as the enemy.

Hey!

I hate you!

Abby! HE GROWLS

Alex is eight.

He gets very emotional.

Don't you do that.

Alex, give it to Abby.

ALEX CRIES

Alex is just angry.

ALEX CRIES

Come on.

Sammy, don't lick the wall.

Samuel is four.

We catch him licking toys.

We went to the doctor once and the doctor was checking him out

and he had something on his tongue and it turns out

that when we questioned Sam, he had been licking the snails

and it was burning his tongue.

JENNIFER: 'He's very hard-headed.'

You can blow your nose.

Help me.

Sammy has become a real big problem with going to bed.

Daddy, good night. He's taking a nap.

OK, I'll be right there.

'You can't really talk him down.' J: He wants a certain blanket,

he wants to be covered up,

he wants to sleep on the floor, he wants the dog.

Anything to keep you in the room.

Good night, Sammy.

Then sleep on the floor.

Get on the floor and lay down.

THEY SCREAM

Abigail is two.

She has a total Jekyll and Hyde personality.

Let go. Let go.

SHE SCREAMS

She won't listen. Settle down.

She sounds like a banshee. ABBY WAILS

For somebody so small, she can dish it out.

I'm upset with the way the kids behave.

HE SCREAMS

They're hard-headed, stubborn and persistent.

You need to sit down.

We've tried bribes, we've tried time out.

We're running out of options of things to try.

- You don't want to go potty? - No.

Let's go pee-pee and we'll get M&M's.

Tantrums are so frequent, I forget what they're about.

Will you sit in your chair?

JENNIFER: It's like a battle.

When they go in and they throw a temper tantrum, it's a doozy.

HE WAILS

There are definitely times

that you want to give up, but I don't wanna fight this battle

for ten more years. I'd rather do it now.

HE CRIES

I know.

There's something not there. I'm upset that I can't see it.

I don't know.

Can you please get in the bed by yourself?

I don't want to.

The big challenge is the sleeping issues.

With the deployment thing, they're afraid

when they wake up, Daddy won't be there.

Being a father and a marine, it's hard to take.

It is something we signed up for, so it's the job that I do.

JENNIFER: When he's gone, they don't realise it until three days later.

Once you leave,

it's hard because you wanna still be there

but you know you can't.

JENNIFER: They're so little, they don't know what seven months is.

They don't know what three weeks is. They just know he's not here.

And the hardest thing is when you don't know when

he's coming home, like with the w*r.

HE SOBS

I missed quite a lot.

Separation is harsh,

especially when you're deployed for long periods.

ABBY CRIES

When he's gone, I can't ever be sad.

The kids are afraid

that when I leave the room, that I'm not coming back.

SHE SCREAMS

'I always tell them, "Don't be sad. Daddy's coming home for you."

'For me,'

I pretend like he's already dead."

It's hard.

CHILDREN CRY

No, ma'am, don't hit. CRYING

So, what do you think, ladies?

Dad may be a marine, but it looks like the troops are ready to revolt.

Well, I, for one, would love to take them through basic training,

Nanny Stella style.

It looks like it's gonna take more than a week

to give this family sweet dreams.

Very well put, nannies.

Because of her ability to tame the wildest of bunches,

I'm choosing Stella for the Scharnitzky family.

She shall be just what the drill sergeant ordered.

'From what I've seen,

'the Scharnitzky family have some major problems.'

HE WAILS

'Dad John is a marine, but he has almost no command over his troops.'

You know, like last night, you need to sleep quietly.

As soon as... As soon as you're done...

'And while mom Jennifer is more hands-on,

'she's simply too controlling.'

Look at me, look at me, look at me.

'It certainly sounds like a most trying week lies ahead.'

This m*llitary family needs some basic training.

I hope they're ready for Nanny Stella's boot camp.

DOORBELL RINGS

The nanny's here.

Hi, I'm Jennifer Scharnitzky. Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you. I'm Nanny Stella.

When Nanny arrived, I was excited.

I was wondering, you know,

how she was gonna receive the kids, how the kids were gonna receive her.

- Hi. - Hi, I'm Jason.

- I'm Nanny Stella. - Nice to meet you.

- This is Alex. - Nice to meet you.

This is Samuel.

Can you give me a high five? Thanks.

And this is Abigail.

Hi, Abigail.

Can you say hi?

No?

Maybe later.

I love it.

I think she's great, I'm glad she's here

and I just wanna know what's going to happen next.

What happens on the first day is, it's very hard,

but you have to pretend that I'm not here.

'The first thing I notice

'is very unusual indeed.'

The children were very good and there didn't seem to be much chaos.

'What's this?

'Alex is busy doing his homework,

'and when Sam and Abby are done playing,

'they actually put their toys away.'

I was quite stumped as to why I was there.

Abby, what do you want to drink with lunch?

Good girl.

I'm not sure I've got the right house.

So far, these children have been little angels.

- Jen... - Yeah.

..are they always this well-behaved?

Because at the moment, I'm wondering why I'm here.

Once they get used to you,

they'll show their true colours.

'And sure enough,

'when it comes to naptime, the children's true colours

'begin to show.'

'Putting these kids down for a nap is obviously a nightmare.'

No, no!

Oh, now I know why I'm here.

SHE CRIES LOUDLY

HE CRIES

- Come on. - I can't.

'And in order to get out of naptime,

'the children try every trick in the book.'

You want juice?

Both Sammy and Abby have long lists of requirements.

What do you want?

They ask for blankets, bunnies, dogs.

Go with Sam. You name it, he's asked for it.

You said you wanted kisses and hugs, you said you wanted the dog,

you said you want to be covered up, you wanted a book.

SAM WAILS

I've given you everything you wanted. Now, lay down.

Flashlights, glow-in-the-dark dinosaurs, anything.

You never know what he's gonna come up with.

Blow.

OK, now, go and lie down.

SAMMY CRIES

What do you want now?

Mom and dad don't think they're being manipulated...

..but the children are actually running the show.

You can have water.

SAMMY WAILS

'It's obvious that when it comes to being separated from mom and dad,

'even just for a nap,

'it brings out the worst in the little ones.

'And later in the day, when mom and dad help Alex with his homework,

'instead of trying to make it fun,

'the parents put too much pressure on him.'

You need to put your finger in for the spacing, remember.

'There's a lot of pressure when it comes to Alex'

and homework.

Alex has trouble staying focused on his homework,

so we're trying to wrestle that. We're not quite sure where to go.

ALEX CRIES

When you're done crying, I'll talk to you.

But obviously, it depends on how much he cooperates.

ALEX CRIES

Alex, this isn't the way to get it done.

I definitely observed that mom and dad ride the kids too much

and it comes across as nagging.

Can you get your pencil?

You're not gonna make it because you're crying.

'And that has got to stop.'

Alex, sit down, please.

'But once again, when dinner is served,

'the children go back to being well-behaved, happy and loving.'

The kids have a total Jekyll and Hyde personality.

Thank you.

It really is the difference between day and night.

Hey!

'Today was just a drill.'

Nanny Stella will get to see the full battle tonight at bedtime.

'I've observed the family throughout the day

'and I still haven't discovered the real problem.

'But when it comes to bedtime, I see exactly why this family needs me.'

ABBY CRIES

Shh...

'The problem in this family isn't bedtime...'

SAMMY CRIES

'..it's that when these children go to sleep,

'they fear that when they wake up, their father will be gone.'

I believe that the bedtime problem stems from separation anxiety.

Abby...

One of the causes of bedtime issues are my frequent deployments.

Daddy did give you kisses and hugs.

- No, he didn't. - Yes, he did.

- No, he didn't. - He did.

'I can think of four major times I've gone away

'for four or five months at a stretch or longer,

'and I think he's afraid that when I leave the room,'

that I'm not coming back.

SAMMY WAILS

A lot of children handle it in different ways

and mine are not going to bed at night because they're afraid

when they wake up in the morning, Daddy won't be there.

ABBY CRIES

'Dad may go off'

and one day may not come back,

and I think the children live in fear of that.

J: 'I have a whole lot of guilt that I've been gone so much.

'With Jen, she's never left, she's always been there,'

and I haven't.

'So, yeah, there's guilt,'

but it's what we do.'

SHE CRIES

'It's clear that these children's angry behaviour

'and tantrums will not cease until their fears

'of being separated from their father are addressed.

'I'd seen enough.

'It was definitely time to sit these parents down

'for a serious talk.'

Can I have a minute with you guys, please? Thank you.

So, end of the first day.

'Sometimes we don't take criticism well from each other.'

Maybe it'll be better from somebody else.

I've made a lot of observations.

There are definitely big issues.

I felt like a schoolchild a little bit, like we got pulled

into the Principal's office and got in trouble.

You know, I see it being a battle for you all the time.

SAMMY WAILS

I see you both working very hard to have very well-behaved children,

but I think you're being a little too uptight.

'I don't think I'm uptight. I think I'm...'

I don't know, I may be, but I don't think I'm that uptight.

But some of their behaviours,

you could give yourself a break and them a break.

Basically, I would say, pick your battle.

ABBY WAILS

You know, as far as Abby and her tantrums,

that's a whole nother sphere.

'Abby is quite the little terror.'

When she goes off, sometimes it's bad.

SHE SCREAMS AND CRIES

Basically what's happening is, you're letting

a two-and-a-half-year-old run the house.

I know she has the temper tantrums.

I didn't really think of it as her running the house.

What do you want?

I want water.

Do you think that's acceptable

for a two-and-a-half-year-old to behave...

- No. - No.

I think it needs to stop.

When Nanny Stella told us that Abby was running the house,

it's tough to hear. You don't think it's true at first.

Sam's nap and your conflicts over bedtime,

that takes my breath away, quite honestly.

That's an "Oh, my goodness."

Sam...

Sam...

But the biggest problem I see is the children's angry behaviour,

and if we don't do something about that now,

it's only going to get worse.

When Nanny said it was going to get worse if we didn't nip it

in the bud, I was scared.

I think we definitely have to challenge

Abby and Sam's issues now,

rather than let them go, because they're going to get worse.

That was a sh*t right across the bow for me.

I honestly think that you two are the sort of parents

that are willing to do it.

JEN: It's like poker. She was all in.

It's going to be hard.

So, I'm gonna work on it tonight,

then I'll be back all refreshed in the morning with my plan.

'The enemy is not gonna give in,'

so we'll see who wins.

I hope she's ready for a w*r.

'After a day of observation,

'the problems in the Scharnitzky house are clear.

'The children's tantrums are out of control.

'So, today, I'm going to give the family

'their own set of rules.'

This is Nanny's special book.

Do you know what it has in it?

What?

Rules.

And this is called "The Scharnitzky Family Code Of Conduct".

'Nanny Stella called it the "code of conduct", not the "rules",

'because the m*llitary has a code of conduct'

for how you're supposed to act.

My big one here, as well, is, "Lights out means lights out."

I don't like to go sleep.

Lay down.

I hate you, Daddy!

In the short term, the big fight is gonna be the lights out.

Rule number two, definitely pick your battles.

Sometimes just let the little things go and focus on the bigger things.

Picking the right battles and letting some of the smaller ones

fly away - I think that, in the long run, is what's gonna win the w*r.

The next one is "Consistency is key."

I mean, one of the things that I've seen would be

in reference to bedtime.

Can the dog go in? Can the cat go in?

Blankets, cuddly toys.

It's, "OK, today, you can have it, but tomorrow, I'm not sure."

So, we need some consistency across the board there.

One day, something might fly because we're in one mood.

The next day, something else might not

because we're in a different mood.

'It just depends on the day.'

And the other thing that we're going to do is,

when it comes to going to bed,

everybody's gonna have a new thing.

It's called a kitbag.

Oh.

In the m*llitary, they have a kitbag,

you know, that they carry on their back,

so I thought the children would like to have a kitbag just like dad has.

And then, when you go off to bed,

those things that are in the kitbag, they go with you.

No negotiations and no stalling tricks.

The kitbags are gonna work out great for Jen and I

because now we don't have to barter.

If they don't put it in the bag, they don't get it for bedtime.

And Alex, yours is a little different,

because you don't have problems going to bed,

so this is going to be your homework kitbag.

'My homework kitbag is awesome'

because sometimes I have a lot of homework.

And, Sammy,

quite honestly, I don't think

there's enough room in there for a dog and a cat.

'Now that I've laid down my rules, I can begin working with the family.

'It's time for our first order of business,

'loading Sammy's kitbag for naptime.'

Sammy, you want to get your bag?

NANNY STELLA: 'Sammy was very enthusiastic,

'but I had to explain the concept again.'

I want this

and this... J: You can't have everything.

OK, Sammy, that's not going to work.

He started putting dinosaurs in there and toys

and I had to stop him.

These are toys and they're not gonna go to bed with us, OK.

It's for things that you like to lay down with.

Do you like your blanket?

J: 'The gear in Sammy's kitbag is his blanket and his bunny,'

and just like for me, when I go away, if I don't pack it,

I don't get it, so the same thing's gonna apply to him.

Do you wanna just do like you do at school,

just lay down and take a rest?

Sometimes when you think it's going to be easy,

it turns out to be completely the opposite.

'And as soon as he's thrown into his bunk,

'naptime turns to w*r...'

'..and it's not long before little Sammy goes AWOL.'

Oh, Sammy.

'But as soon as we turn our backs, Sammy escapes once again.'

J: Sam, come on.

'The kids are almost as bad as the enemy'

and they pick apart your plan if it's not a solid plan.

SHOUTS: Help me.

We had a three-man tag-team going on.

Now it starts over.

Mom was in there, dad was in there,

I was in there at different intervals.

OK, Sammy... Good job, that's it.

That's what you do. You go right back in there by yourself.

'But because we remain consistent with Sammy,

'we eventually win the battle.

'After we managed to put Sammy to bed,

'it's time to work

'with Alex and Jason to make homework time more fun.'

Alex, can you go run in your room

and get your homework bag that Nanny Stella brought you

and bring it up front, please?

Alex's kitbag, we opened it up and it was almost like Christmas.

First thing I got was this lap thing.

- Nice. - You can do your homework on here.

He absolutely loved it.

We got all kinds of scrap paper and notebooks for you.

'Alex got on board with that straight away

'and even Jason began having some fun.'

Look at all these pencils.

OK, I'll choose which one I want.

OK, sounds good.

- Oh, yeah, m*llitary! - There you go.

Sounds good.

That's awesome.

'I'm beginning to realise just how much

'their father's deployments upset these children.

'It must be so hard for them to see their father leave

'and not know when he's coming back.'

Alex takes things to heart.

I have a little bit of guilt that he is let down

from my frequent deployments.

JEN: 'It was harder for Alex when he went away for the w*r,

'because he's older and he knows more,

'so if I can say... show him the counter,'

"This is when Daddy's leaving and this is when Daddy's coming home,"

he can understand it a little better, so that makes it harder.

Good job. That's the way I pack my bag, too.

Now your bag's done.

Now you can drag it around, like I do.

We call that the "seabag drag".

'And while the kitbag had a very positive effect on Alex,

'I have a strange feeling that, before things get better

'with the other children, they may get much, much worse.

'The next morning got off to a great start,

'with dad and the boys making brownies.'

You're doing the eggs.

Awesome.

'The children seemed very happy.'

Stir it till it turns into mud.

CHILD LAUGHS Turns into mud.

Bleurgh! Looks like tar, doesn't it?

'Everything seemed just fine.

'But when dad tries to leave for his engineering course...'

I'll be back in a little bit.

Daddy! Daddy!

'..the children's separation issues erupt.'

Daddy!

'And sure enough,

'Abby's heart-wrenching screams make dad come back in.'

You see her start building up.

She starts wanting, wanting, wanting, and then the cries start.

Of course I carry guilt.

SHE CRIES

And suddenly, she starts throwing a huge tantrum.

'This tantrum is clearly not about her dress.

'It's about dad leaving.'

I always tell them that Daddy's coming home for them.

Even when you tell them,

it just doesn't sink in and that sparks a big ordeal.

SHE SCREAMS

And it just didn't stop. It just kind of escalated.

When you're done crying, you can come talk to me, OK.

SHE SCREAMS AND CRIES

Abby wasn't used to us saying no.

SHE SCREAMS

That was the start of probably one of the most major tantrums

I've seen, not only in their house, but anywhere.

When you're done, come talk to me.

When we tell people, Abigail and her temper tantrums,

they just look at her and say, "Oh, she's so cute,"

but really, for somebody so small, she can dish it out.

SCREAMS: No! No!

'For a moment, it looks like dad has calmed Abby down.'

- Now, I'm gonna leave. - No!

'But as soon as he tries to leave, it starts all over again.

'If Jason doesn't learn to stop feeling guilty and be firm,

'Abby's behaviour will only get worse.'

SHE SCREAMS AND CRIES

'Abby's tantrum continues for another hour,

'but I make mom and dad stand firm.'

Abby, no ma'am.

'Jason, as hard as he was trying, wasn't getting very far,'

so I went in and intervened.

Tell me, tell me why you're crying.

SHE WAILS

OK, me and Daddy are going out.

'Then, Jason was leaving the room

'and she grabbed onto his leg for dear life.'

You go, Jason, you go.

'And I said, "No way," so I took her off his leg'

and I sat in her doorway.

SHE SCREAMS AND CRIES

'She's capable of calming down,

'but nobody's ever asked that of her.'

They've just calmed her down.

'This was the first time that Abby had ever really been challenged.

'She was unrelenting.'

SHE SOBS

She's just very defiant.

SHE SOBS LOUDLY

'After yet another hour, Abby is hopelessly

'out of control,

'so I offer my advice.'

ABBY CRIES

This would be my advice.

I would give her the water and I would put her to bed.

She's overly tired and she can't work that out.

Yeah.

'Understandably, the parents are having a really hard time with this

'and to resolve their problem,

'I must get them to stick to their g*ns.'

Take a drink.

ABBY WAILS

No! No!

This was one of the longest tantrums that I'd seen.

'Although it wasn't easy,

'the parents managed to remain firm with Abby

'and she eventually goes to sleep,

'but the real test was yet to come.'

JEN: Sam, it's time for bed.

Do we have his kitbag,

so he has his animal and his blanket?

This is it, this is what you go to bed with, right?

OK, let's see what's in here.

We've been giving in the little things,

even though it's only one thing a night.

'This time we're saying no.'

There you go.

'We had everything ready in the kitbag.

'His bunny was there, the blanket was there.'

And there's your blanket.

We broke it out and we were ready to go.

And then, Mom and Dad are going to put you to bed

and say goodnight,

and then, when the lights go out, it's time to go to sleep.

OK? Good listening.

Sammy, this is your time to get hugs and kisses.

JEN: After Daddy leaves, he's not coming back in here

for another kiss.

I really like the way you listened after dinner.

No, it wasn't in your kitbag.

Sammy started out with negotiating.

Sam, you know what's going on. It's time for bed.

Goodnight, buddy.

Goodnight, sweetie.

No, Simon wasn't in the bag.

I love you, sweetie. Goodnight.

This is the only kiss and hug

you're gonna get tonight. 'We're gonna stick to the g*ns.'

We're gonna hold out.

Goodnight. Lights out.

Mommy!

Mommy!

HE CRIES

Go to bed.

Go to bed.

The tantrum escalated and escalated.

He just kept going on and on and on and trying to find

something that we would give into.

What?

It's horrible.

'And heart-breaking, but like a good soldier,

'Jason is committed to getting the job done.'

OK, goodnight.

SAMMY CRIES

'I have absolutely no clue how many times I had to go put him back.'

We all take turns. It was a tag-team effort.

Go and lay down.

Go and lay down.

'Jason has his turn.'

Go and lay down.

'Jen has her turn.'

SAMMY CRIES

'I have my turn.'

- I want Daddy to... - No.

Turn on your heels right now and put yourself back to bed.

I'm gonna count to three

and then, I'm gonna take you. One...

HE SHRIEKS

JEN: 'It was crazy.'

It was just kind of, like... I don't know.

Go to bed.

Normally, he comes out, "I gotta tell you something."

And then it's the blow the nose, the cat, the dog,

leave the door open, the fish, the bunny, the little blanky,

big blanky, the towel, his bed's too hard,

he wants to sleep on the floor,

he's thirsty, he needs to rinse his mouth

cos he forgot to do it when he brushed his teeth.

He's got more requests than a diva on tour.

I know!

Honestly, though, in my opinion, it's already better.

Normally, you're going back in there with other things -

blankets, dogs, kisses and hugs.

There is no dog, there is no cat,

you're not giving him anything else when you go back in there.

Yeah.

'The parents were doing really well

'until Sammy's tantrum took a violent turn for the worse.'

JEN: When we didn't give into it...

I hate you!

..that ticked him off and so, that just made it even worse.

I love you, Sammy, goodnight.

Shut up, Mommy. Shut up!

Then he started with the verbal as*ault.

I hate you!

- I love you, too. - Shut up!

I don't really understand why Sammy's reacting this way.

Shut up!

- I love you, goodnight. - Shut up!

I do know he's trying to get me to respond and I'm not gonna.

I hate you, Daddy!

You just shut up!

Daddy!

HE POUNDS ON DOOR

HE SCREAMS He's mad.

'Throughout the day, and especially bedtime...'

HE KICKS AND SCREAMS

..there were some serious levels of anger and frustration.

HE SCREAMS I didn't feel the kids were angry.

I do not love you.

I think I have the perfect family.

SCREAMS: I hate you!

'After Sam's violent tantrum last night,

'today, I decided to sit J and Jennifer down

'to get to the root of the problem.'

I said to you guys that I'd seen some serious levels of anger

from all three of them.

I hate you!

- I love you, too. - Shut up!

SHE SCREAMS

And so, I wanted to know what your thoughts on it were,

if you thought they were angry and what...

what the reason behind that could be,

and possibly what the solution to that could be.

An angry kid, I don't see. None of them, I don't see.

But you see that they display angry behaviour.

Yeah, when they're pissed, they do.

Yeah, some of the stuff they're displaying,

like Sammy going to bed, his screaming,

that's displays of anger, but I don't think he's as angry...

I don't think he's an angry child.

..so much as he is scared.

You mean, overall?

He's not an angry child.

Jen just kept bah-humbugging it. She was having none of it.

They were not angry children, in her opinion.

Kicking the heck out of a door and shouting and screaming is anger.

HE SCREAMS

Right, and I think that's due to him being afraid

that Jason's gonna leave.

It's not fear.

Your kids' fear is translating to anger.

They're angry at me.

'When Nanny Stella told us that the kids displayed anger,'

until you believe it, you can't tell where it's coming from.

Are they having separation anxiety

and they're scared I'm gonna leave again on another deployment?

They don't know when I'm gonna go and when I'll be back,

and it's manifesting itself as anger to us.

You don't want them to be scared of that forever,

so maybe you guys have a bigger issue

to work on. You have to keep promoting that, you know,

"Daddy may go away, but right now, Daddy's here

"and we're all a family and we're gonna work together."

You know, they can't live in fear.

JEN: 'She is absolutely right.

'Sammy can't continue to live in fear,

'so we need to figure out'

a way to help him.

'After our discussion, I ask dad to sit down and talk to the kids.'

Sit. I've got something I wanna talk to you.

It's very serious.

'Now that Nanny Stella's pointed out the problem and we see the problem,'

now we have a good chance of fixing it.

You know, before Daddy was in that job where I had to travel a lot

and I went away for a long, long time?

Yeah.

Well, Daddy has a different job now and I'm not going away any more,

- not for long trips, OK. - Thanks, Daddy.

- So, I want you guys to know that. - I understand.

Good.

Sam, You don't have to be scared any more, OK?

Something I'll probably have to tell him again, but it's a start.

I love you, Daddy.

I love you, Sam.

Oh, come here, stinky.

NANNY STELLA: 'This discussion was very important to the family

'because the children have been instilled with this fear

'that dad's going to keep going away,'

so it was very reassuring to the children, especially Sammy.

No more being scared at night, right?

Cos when I put you to sleep, I'm gonna come get you in the morning.

I'll see you every morning, OK.

- OK. - All right.

Good job. All right.

'And over the next few days,

'the Scharnitzkys began making great improvements.'

I'll give you a red medal and you a blue medal.

Thank you very much.

'Reassured by the knowledge that their father's going

'to always be there for them, naptime is becoming more restful.'

I love you.

'And the tantrums are becoming a thing of the past.'

Listen to me.

If you make good choices, then you get a medal,

so let's go make good choices, OK?

'As a result, mom's days with the kids are far easier.'

OK, go sit down because your food's gonna be ready any minute, OK.

'But there's still one more battle

'for the Scharnitzkys to win before I leave.'

All right, big hugs.

'We laid the boys down, Alex and Sam.'

Oh, I love you so much.

Everything was going along, it was shipshape.

Like that?

- Yeah. - All right, OK.

We were gonna go forth and carry out the plan.

We're gonna get it together.

I went back to go check on them

and they were quiet, they were in bed.

Oh, quiet.

We need a stopwatch so we can clock how much quiet time we get.

JEN: It was a good bedtime.

J: We only had to go in a couple of times, it only took half an hour.

That's great, from three hours.

It was a lot better.

- minutes... - Uh-huh.

..instead of three and a half hours.

Yeah.

'Definitely going to work. This family really can do this.'

They are going to make it.

'I'll take the minutes.

'It was nice and quiet afterwards,'

which was a good change.

'With the battle of bedtime a success,

'I can finally say I won the w*r.

'It's time for me to say goodbye.'

Scharnitzky family, I've got to go.

I had a lovely time.

I really did enjoy myself.

J: 'Nanny Stella came out and told us she was leaving

'and it's tough to say goodbye.

'It's kind of surprising'

that, even in only a week,

but she's a pretty good friend now, I feel.

I think you all should give yourselves

some medals when I leave, OK.

Nanny Stella changed our family for the better, gave us good ideas.

The kids love her. They're never gonna forget her,

we'll never forget her. She was great.

Before I do go, though, I have

a little leaving present for Mommy and Daddy.

Points of referral, if you get stuck.

Nanny Stella left us a book.

It's got some really great information in.

Considering the source, we'll keep that handy.

'Leaving the family, I do believe that they now understand'

what their problems were and still are, to some respect.

Oh, now, what about the big boy in the family?

Who's the big boy in the family?

Daddy.

- OK. Thank you very, very much. - Thank you.

You've done a great job, you really have.

Thanks for all your help.

- You too, Jen. You really have. - Thank you.

You've done a great job. Just keep it up, OK.

'It was a good week.'

All her ideas, she had brought in, everything she had said,

we tried them, it worked

and it was...

Things had changed and they're gonna stay changed.

Now, I do have to go,

cos somewhere else, somebody needs Nanny Stella.

OK?

See you guys later.

- Bye. - Bye, Nanny.

- Say "Bye, Nanny. - The best nanny ever.

I hope that the Scharnitzky family definitely carry on the good work.

'My week of deployment

'to the Scharnitzky family has been a great success.

'Now that the children's fears of separation are being conquered,

'the whole family can move forward into a much brighter future.

'My mission here is accomplished.'

Come here, guys. The nanny left us something.

"Dear Scharnitzky family,

"it has been a great pleasure being part of your family this week.

"Seeing the things you have learned

"being put into practice

"and taking great effect has made me very proud.

"I have left some gifts for the whole family to enjoy.

"There's also a special surprise just for mom and dad.

"Love, Nanny Stella and all the nannies at Nanny Central."

Oh, my God, that's huge!

- I like the teapot. - Yeah.

- The kettle. - Hot tea.

This is neat, huh?

Say thank you to Nanny.

Thank you, Nanny Stella.

We love you.