04x05 - The Valenti Family

[bunniefuu]

SCREAMS

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

Argh! Stupid!

'Kids completely out of control...'

No, stop.

'..and taking over the household.'

I will smack your butt.

'These parents have reached the end of the road.'

All right, enough! I don't care!

'They're in desperate need of help.'

Get upstairs! Get in the bathtub now!

'They have only one alternative left.

'It's time to contact Nanny .'

This is Nanny . Can I help you?

'From our team of world-class nannies,

'direct from Nanny Central,

'the right nanny will be chosen.

'They will then have one week

'to take our families from living hell

- 'to a family bliss.' - You're a waste of life.

- 'Can these families be saved?' - I'm gonna call the police.

- No! - Anthony!

I don't love you.

What you do with those children is my business.

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

Nanny's here!

The nanny's here!

Who's your nanny?

'Tonight...' SCREAMING

Sit down!

'..meet the Valenti family.'

My brother's head is stuck!

Hey, give me the sword.

'For these kids, home is a jungle.'

LION ROAR

'They climb like monkeys...'

Giancarlo, get down!

'..fight like tigers...'

LION ROAR

They act like street fighters.

'..and scream like hyenas.'

SCREAMS

'Nanny Deb goes on a safari.'

Nanny's gonna have a heart att*ck.

'Next on Nanny .'

CHILD SCREAMING

SCREAMING

I want one now, I want one now!

- All right! - I want one now!

Dude, come on, calm down.

My name is Nicholas Valenti. I'm a structural mechanic.

Giancarlo, get down.

- Can I stay there? - Nicholas, don't.

No. I just yelled at Giancarlo for that.

I'm Deborah Valenti and I'm a stay-at-home mom.

Can you not do that? OK, can you not do that?

One second!

Then it's gonna...

DAD: Nicholas, he's the oldest, he's three and a half.

He pushes, he punches,

he runs and slides into his brothers, knocking them over.

He's a natural climber.

- Nicholas, get down. - Why?

Cos you're gonna fall and get hurt. SCREAMS

DAD: Giancarlo is two and a half.

Giancarlo follows Nicholas, cos he's older.

- He just copies. - Look at me, Daddy.

Yeah, I'm looking at you.

You're gonna get hurt one of these days. Get down.

Giancarlo, get down!

SCREAMS

Don't climb over the gate.

He's determined. Very determined.

CRIES

DAD: Giovanni, my baby,

he is months. He takes the brunt of it.

Nicholas, he's not a drum. He's a baby.

Unfortunately, he watches everything that his brothers do

and just thinks it's hilarious and amusing.

We put security gates all over the house

because we thought it would keep them out of harm's way,

and it was useless,

because, clearly, they climb everything.

They hop the gates, they climb the gates,

they open the gates. They go in the dining room

and climb to the second floor.

They go outside and climb the stairs.

I mean, what kid does that?

Hey!

My kids are very rough with each other.

When they play, they're roughhousing.

Oh!

Oh, my God.

CRIES

Pushing each other, going for their faces.

Like street fighters.

CRIES

They don't respect their toys.

They throw 'em, they kick 'em, they break 'em.

Somebody threw a block the other day

and hit the baby in the head. Don't swing the sword like that!

I don't think they really know the meaning of what respect is.

Hey, bring me the sword. Bring me the sword now.

They don't listen and it's like talking to a brick wall.

I love you. CRIES

I'm here all the time with them, every day.

My husband works and works.

Deborah's with them more hours during the day than myself,

so her tolerance level is less than mine.

All right, Nicholas, get up. Get up.

Put your legs down and get up.

Deborah will say things once, sometimes twice,

and then if it's not done,

then she just kind of flies off the handle.

Can you get down? Sit down!

- How about that? - Sit and eat.

Because he's not home all the time,

I don't think he worries about it as much.

Where I would say, "We have to stop this"

or, "It's getting worse,"

he wouldn't know what's worse from yesterday to today.

Giancarlo, get down.

Get down.

They're fearless. They don't fear anyone or anything.

Hey, what did you do that for?

Nick sees their behaviour as, you know, they're boys,

that's how they play, and I don't.

I think it's detrimental to the safety of the house.

Giancarlo's had five black eyes.

I think that boys should be boys.

Boys have a lot of energy.

That's not a ball. That's an orange.

They need to burn off some of that energy.

I'm just afraid that it's gonna get worse

and it's gonna get dangerous. They just make me anxious.

SCREAMING

I mean, they are happy kids, but they just don't listen.

You know, you just never know what they're gonna do.

I'm stuck! CRIES

I called Nanny , cos I have no control over my kids.

With all the children out of control,

this mum is in over her head.

Nanny Deb, she'll need your cool and calm direction

to get her back in the driver's seat.

DOORBELL RINGS

That's the nanny.

- Hello! - Hello. How are you?

Good. Nice to meet you. I'm Nanny Deb.

- Hi. I'm Deborah. - Hi, Deborah.

- Hello. - That's Giancarlo.

- Nice to meet you. And you are? - Nicholas.

- This is Giovanni. - Hi, Giovanni!

- Hi. I'm Nick. - Hi, I'm Nanny Deb.

- Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.

Whoa! Giancarlo, don't do that.

Before I even took off my cape and my hat,

the boys started fighting,

so I could tell I had quite a day ahead of me.

Today, you have to pretend I'm actually not here.

The only way I can help you is if I see a typical, normal day.

OK.

Can you pretend I'm invisible and I'm not here?

Yeah, OK.

- Ooh, Nicholas, does Mommy let you do that?

- Yeah. - She does?

It doesn't look very safe.

Nicholas and Giancarlo climb everything.

I've never seen so much climbing.

This is out of control.

These boys climb like monkeys.

Oy vey! I thought this was the Valentis,

not the chimpanzee house.

Ooh. Oh, God, Giancarlo, nanny's gonna have a heart att*ck.

No injuries on our first day, my friend.

OK, dangerous.

Thank you.

Next thing I knew, I turned around

and Giancarlo had his head through the banister.

I thought we were gonna have to call the fire department, .

His head, luckily, managed to come out,

but another quarter of an inch worth of growth

and his head will be stuck there

and we will be calling the fire department.

Ner-ner, ner-ner, ner.

Boys, listen. Down, please.

Down, please. Down, please.

I can't watch when you're being too dangerous, OK? When I'm...

I sound just like your grandma?

Cos me and your grandma have lived long enough

to see little boys get hurt doing stuff like that.

Playtime is a free-for-all.

They just, basically, get put in a room

and are left to do their own thing.

SCREAMING

CRYING

Help!

All mothers have things to do.

Can you open this, Mommy?

It doesn't open, Gianca...

Whoa!

But in this household,

Mum really leaves these children unattended most of the day,

and they get bored and into trouble.

She just seems to be turning a blind eye to it.

CRIES

If they're screaming, she doesn't come running.

She'll yell from another room.

Are you playing golf, Nicholas?

Whack, whack.

'Mom's so distracted, it's no surprise

'that unsupervised kids misbehave.'

What do you want for lunch?

Giancarlo wants a bottle.

- How about lunch first? - No!

Giving a child over the age of months a bottle

is not necessary.

Bottles are used as a tool to drink,

until a child learns to drink from a cup.

By a year of age,

most children should be able to drink from a cup.

A two-and-a-half-year-old having a bottle is ridiculous.

All right, all right!

- You want a bottle? - Yeah.

OK. Pick up the puzzle.

'So after saying no to the bottle,

'Mum's changed her tune and is using a bottle as a bribe

'to get Giancarlo to tidy up his toys.'

Thank you.

I want you to pick up the puzzles and stuff.

- No.

Then you're not getting a bottle. I'll pick it up.

I'll drink the bottle.

CRIES

All right, Giancarlo.

Are you happy?

Mum is extremely inconsistent.

The boys know that if they push,

they're gonna get what they want.

She'll start off by saying no, but she never means it.

'Now that Giancarlo's got what he wants,

'he's back in the playroom with Nicholas, running amok.'

Well, the boys basically turn all of their toys into weapons.

Anything that they have, they'll pick up and throw at each other,

they'll use to hit each other with.

Hey, you little... son of a g*n.

Somebody help him.

You know, nothing is played with appropriately.

SCREAMING AND CRYING

Mum leaves all three of them unattended.

That includes the -month-old baby.

And the -month-old ends up getting hit, knocked down,

pushed, sat on.

So, basically, you've got a three year old

watching a month old. It's not just appropriate

in any way, shape or form.

CRYING

I don't think he likes that, Nicholas.

OK, all right, Nicholas, let's not net the baby, OK?

Giovanni's gonna be calling Angelina and Brad soon,

asking if he wants another one.

'To make matters worse, the baby gate's been left open

'and now baby Giovanni is wandering unsupervised.'

All right, we're gonna go get him.

CRYING

'Mum's got one kid and now she needs to wrangle two more

- 'for a trip to the supermarket.' - I don't know.

Nicholas. Nicholas!

Giancarlo. Giancarlo.

Giancarlo. Giancarlo!

'If I thought the kids' behaviour at home was shocking,

'it's the same at the supermarket.

'Only this time, it's with an audience.'

OK, that's it. Come on.

Look, the man is looking at us over there.

Over there.

No, no, no, that's glass. Come down. Look.

- Come. - 'After two stressful hours,

'it's a relief to get home.'

Nicholas.

Can you look at me for a second?

HUMS TO HIMSELF

Nicholas.

CONTINUES HUMMING

Nicholas. Nicholas!

Nicholas!

Stop being mean!

Nicholas threw a fork and he was being very spiteful.

OK, say good night to everybody.

So then I just grabbed him and took him up.

I had it, and I just put the kid to bed.

- OK. - I don't...

wanna go to bed!

OK, quit while you're ahead.

It was just a mess.

Then Giancarlo was crying for a bottle.

Wait here and I'll go get you a bottle. Do not get up.

Don't get up!

- Lay down. Lay down in your bed. - No!

Get in the bed.

'I could see early on

'that bedtime was going to be the biggest challenge.'

Nobody was happy with anything.

Nanny saw that and was probably disgusted.

'After an exhausting and stressful day,

'I'm going to sit Mum and Dad down

'and talk to them about what I've observed.'

These children are left to run wild.

They were hanging over the bannisters,

climbing through the railings, all over tables.

I mean, there are no boundaries whatsoever in this house,

and for me, that is a big safety issue.

They don't care. They have no respect for their home.

Their toys mean nothing.

They think nothing of breaking something.

I heard you call Nicholas' name ten times in a row

and he did not respond.

Again, that comes back to a safety issue.

You're out, calling his name, he's not answering you.

Another issue, there is no real structure to their day.

Without having structure comes boredom.

If a three year old is bored, they're going to misbehave.

If a year old is bored,

what do you think they're gonna turn to?

dr*gs or something worse.

So that's where we're heading.

Another issue is the inconsistency.

Today, there was a whole big thing with Giancarlo and the bottle.

It was, "No, no, no," and in the end,

he knows he's gonna get what he wants. If he keeps going,

he'll get what he wants, cos there's no consistency.

I didn't once see any form of discipline in place today.

There was never a consequence for anything they did.

Look, I'm not gonna sit here and say this is gonna be easy.

This journey this week is a very rough one,

and it can, as I put it, make you or break you.

I'm ready for whatever she gives us to do.

I'm ready for the consequences,

but I know it's gonna be exhausting.

And I just know that it's gonna be ugly.

'The kids are out of control, it's time to sit this family down

'with their new set of rules.'

These are the new rules for your family.

And that means the whole family.

Mom and dad and all the brothers have to follow these rules now.

When the nanny came to give us the rules,

I was anxious to see what she saw that we needed.

The first rule - safety first.

Yesterday, when I was here,

I saw boys doing very dangerous things.

We're not gonna do dangerous things any more.

Wow. She really has an issue with the climbing.

Next rule is everyone listens.

Yesterday, Mommy said "Nicholas" ten times

and you didn't answer.

Nicholas. Nicholas.

Nicholas. Nicholas! Nicholas!

So everyone is now gonna listen to everybody else.

Next rule is bye-bye, bottles.

When I mentioned bye-bye, bottles,

Giancarlo's face kind of fell.

Nanny's going to send them to the babies,

because you're a big boy now. We don't need them any more.

That's not gonna work in this house.

Giancarlo's very dependent on that bottle.

This one's for Mommy and Daddy.

Say what you mean, and mean what you say.

So, we're only gonna say no when we mean no.

If Mommy says no, that means she means no.

And you can ask and ask a hundred times

and she's still gonna say no.

And this is the last one - respect.

Respect means that we care about people.

We care about our home, we care about each other,

we care about our toys and we take care of them.

We treat them with respect.

It's gonna be a challenge,

because they're already at the point

where they're throwing things

and not having any regard for toys and furniture.

I don't think any of this is gonna be easy.

OK, so now I'm gonna show you

some things that I have in my bag

that are gonna help us with all of these things.

This one is a wristband.

I want the wristband. I want the wristband.

OK. So, the wristband would go on Mommy or on each other,

and then it can only go this far.

The wristbands are a fun, safe way

to keep the kids close to each other, and close to mum,

when they're outside the home.

And when you learn to listen, when Mommy calls your name,

you won't have to wear them any more.

Because we're sending the bottles to the babies,

we've got special cups.

Special ones.

See? Aren't they fun?

And then this is called a timeout timer.

This is gonna help us with listening, respect,

safety, everything. Because if you break those rules,

you get a timeout.

I don't really believe in timeout.

I don't think that timeout is gonna make the kid understand.

I really believe that they don't get it.

- Who's ready for a surprise? - Me.

Who's gonna follow Nanny? Join the nanny train.

Keep your eyes closed. Ready?

Ta-da!

CHEERING

Hi, Giovanni!

LAUGHTER

Nanny turned the playroom into, like, a little gym area.

She put down some mats and a little tunnel house

and some things for the kids to play with.

These are beanbags for sitting and climbing.

It was very important to make the playroom a safe, fun place

for the boys to play.

These boys have a tendency to be very active

and they get very bored.

Boo!

SCREAMING

And look, your brothers can't hurt you

when you build blocks with these.

She clearly nailed what they need.

They needed a safe area to just let out some energy.

Argh!

'I've asked dad Nick to babyproof the railings

'with plexiglass panels.

'But it seems Giancarlo is keen

'to get in one last dangerous climb.'

- No, no, no, no. It's not safe.

- Safety first! - Get down.

Are you not gonna listen to Mommy?

- Are you listening?

'Giancarlo needs to learn that his actions have consequences.'

All right, that's it, Giancarlo.

You're getting a timeout.

Giancarlo received his first timeout.

You can stay on the step for a timeout.

He should be in an area where you can see him.

TIMER: Begin.

And don't stay with him. Now you walk away.

Initially, Mum didn't know how to deal with the timeout at all.

She was obviously very anxious about it.

I didn't think, for his age, timeout would work.

Don't get up.

In the beginning, he got up a couple of times.

No. Sit down.

I explained to her that a timeout, at this age,

basically means just sitting them somewhere

and not giving them any attention for their behaviour.

Go back. Now we have to start all over again.

And he ended up staying for his timeout,

so he did pretty well.

Oh! Time's up.

That's the first one, hopefully the last one.

'But straight after his timeout,

'Giancarlo's climbing again, this time up to the cupboard

'where his treasured bottles are kept.'

Excuse me. Look at me.

You don't climb on the counter. This is not safe.

'To remove temptation, the bottles need to go.'

Are you gonna come help me get the baby bottles

to send to the babies?

One.

Thank you.

Oh, yay.

Bye, bottles.

I said goodbye to the bottles.

- Yeah, you did. Good job. - OK.

Hello.

I sent the bottles to the babies

and they sent you a special letter.

Wanna hear? It says, "Dear Giancarlo and Giovanni,

"thank you so much for the bottles.

"We really need them. Lots of love from the babies."

Giancarlo.

The babies said thank you for the bottles.

No.

Yes, they did.

'Sending the bottles away has Giancarlo feeling insecure.

'He's used to getting his own way

'and wants to regain control of the situation.'

Are you gonna go play with Giovanni?

- No. - We're all going in here.

Are you gonna stay out there, by yourself?

- OK. Well, we're going in here. - OK, I will.

CRIES

You wanna come and play?

Yeah.

OK. Open the gate and come in.

I want you to get...

'Giancarlo knows how to open the gate himself,

'but wants Mum to do it for him

'and throws a tantrum to get what he wants.'

This is all about control right now,

and he just wants you to kind of do what he wants to do.

- Open the gate and come in. - No.

This is where the hard part is -

learning to tune out when you need to tune out.

And not letting it get you stressed out.

- It's really getting on my nerves now.

- Yeah.

- I feel the knot in my stomach. - Yeah.

Mum has a very, very low tolerance

for her children whining and screaming.

She just can't deal with listening to them.

It was very difficult to let him stand there and cry,

because it's not something that I would've done.

I would've either pacified his needs,

yelled at him and gotten frustrated

and take it out on everybody else in the house.

She needs to get through this short-term experience

to fix it in the long-term.

She has to nip this in the bud now

before it gets completely out of hand.

SCREAMS

Yeah, somebody's getting very angry.

CRIES

We're not doing what he wants.

- Just come in. - He doesn't want to.

'Giancarlo may be frustrated

'that he's not getting his own way,

'but Mum is struggling to stay firm.'

CRIES AND SCREAMS

'It's time for me to intervene before Mum throws in the towel.'

I'm giving you a minute to calm down. It's your choice.

This is like a temper tantrum.

That's all this is. He's angry and frustrated,

cos I'm not doing exactly what he wants at this moment.

I know. You're right.

And it's these guys that are behaving

that would end up getting the short end of the stick.

I would've lost my patience with him and, in turn,

yelled at him, like, "Shut up!"

Yeah. You're sending them the message

that when you scream and cry and whine and moan and hang on me,

I'm not gonna give you what you want.

We're gonna go get a drink.

Come on. You want a drink?

You wanna come have a drink?

No. CRIES

I know you got upset. You wanted Mommy to pick you up

and take you in the playroom. We're all done with that now

and we're gonna go and have a drink.

And then we might go back in the playroom afterwards. OK?

'But no sooner have I calmed Giancarlo down...'

'..his brother Nicholas has upset him

'by throwing away a piece of his chocolate.'

Why is he crying? Did you hit him?

Why is he crying, then?

You threw what?

Was it nice to throw the chocolate?

Give this to Giancarlo.

- What do you say? - Would you like to say anything?

- Yeah. - OK, but where's yours?

- Wait, wait. - Wait, wait, wait, wait.

Come here. Listen to me. Did you have your chocolate?

OK, you had yours.

And that other chocolate was his, right?

So who gets to eat it?

Who gets to eat it?

Him, right? OK.

So next time, you eat your chocolate

- and you let him have his. - Correct?

'I'm realising that Mum and Dad

'have very different parenting styles.

'Mum gets stressed out and tends to shout,

'while Dad is stronger and can discipline the kids calmly.'

Go to Giancarlo and say sorry and you're not gonna do it again.

- I'm sorry. - Give him a hug.

Dad did a good job. He showed the boys

that he can be a strong, calm male influence.

Cheers.

You want some of this?

Cheers me, Mom.

Now you don't need a bottle!

Oh, look, Giancarlo's cleaning up the playroom

so he can get ready for bed.

'So far, so good.

'At this rate, bedtime will be a breeze.'

Good night, Giovanni. Mwah!

SCREAMING

Lay down. No. Lay down.

Lay down.

'Now both boys are awake

'and coming up with excuses to delay bedtime.'

Excuse me.

Tell me something as you're going to bed. Come on.

All right.

You gave the bottles to the babies. Remember?

No more bottles.

It's time to go in your bed.

I don't wanna go to bed!

The rule of thumb is, if they get out of bed,

the first time, they say they need to go to the bathroom,

you trust them to go. "OK, go to the bathroom."

If they go, "I need this, I need that,"

no, it's bedtime. That's it. Just march them back in.

Bedtime. CRIES

Bedtime. SCREAMS

Bedtime was horrific.

I don't like to ignore the kids

because it makes them feel like they're asking for something

and nobody's answering them.

It was not comfortable at all. At one point,

there were a million things running through my mind,

like, "Nanny's nuts, this isn't working."

You think, "Oh, my gosh, what's next?"

CRIES

It just felt a little extreme.

'Neither child has had a set bedtime before

'and they're struggling to adjust.

'Giancarlo is demanding a bottle,

'while Nicholas is coming up with excuses

'to put off going to sleep.

'But Mom and Dad have to return their kids to bed,

'no matter how loud they protest.'

This is ridiculous.

I really started questioning - why are we doing this?

What's the point?

CHILDREN CRYING

'Mum and Dad are giving up.

'They just don't have faith in me or my methods.

'If they can't stay firm and follow through with both kids,

'I may as well just leave now.'

Mom!

You're teaching them that your saying "it's bedtime"

means it's bedtime.

You mean what you say and you say what you mean.

Are you sure they understand that? Yeah, they understand it.

CRYING

This is like, you know...

- This is the worst. - This is pretty bad.

Yeah. It always gets worse before it gets better.

- Mommy!

'Mum still has doubts, so I need to show her how it's done.'

Shh.

Shh-shh-shh-shh.

It lasted a half hour, but it felt like it was four hours.

'Mum and Dad may feel battered and bruised,

'but all three Valenti boys are finally asleep.

'That's progress after only one night of sleep training.'

'It's the next morning, but we're not off to a good start.

'Giancarlo is fighting with his brother, Nicholas.'

SCREAMING

Nicholas, why are you looking at Nanny?

Cos I think you know something.

One of the things I noticed with this family

is that Mum is always quick to blame Nicholas.

I told them what I'd seen.

Giancarlo came and pushed you in the back,

and you didn't like it. So what did you do?

- Stop. - OK.

And then explained to them that they're brothers,

and they don't need to use their hands.

They need to use their words.

Turn around and say to Giancarlo, "Don't push me.

"I don't like that."

Don't push me. I don't like that.

Giancarlo, if you don't like something Nicholas is doing,

you tell Nicholas, "I don't like that."

I don't like that, Nicholas.

- There you go. - OK.

There is gonna be no more pushing in this house.

Before we talk about that... GASPS

And you just kicked your brother.

Is kicking good?

No, it's not. It's not nice.

You guys are brothers,

you love each other. I need you to give each other a hug.

Aw!

That's more like it.

'But Mom's generally too quick to blame Nicholas,

'and that's unfair.'

Just be really careful

about not constantly punishing the older one.

I punish him all the time

because he's the only one that sort of listens.

I think Nicholas gets the raw deal in the house,

cos I'm always punishing him, yelling at him.

When Giancarlo's frustrating me,

he gets in trouble.

I think Giancarlo kind of gets away with m*rder.

He hits Nicholas, I yell at Nicholas.

There's no consequences or repercussions

- for anything that kid does. - I think we have to make sure

that you acknowledge both of their behaviour,

you respond to both of their behaviour

and not just single out one.

Yeah, that's not something that we've been doing, ever.

No. Yeah.

I think me being protective over Giancarlo,

because he was the baby, then middle child,

screwed the whole thing up.

I can see now, clearly, why they fight constantly,

why I scream. We're just frustrated with each other.

This is an eye-opening experience in a lot of ways,

because I'm starting to realise a lot of things that I do.

I think I make a lot of excuses for the things that they do.

'This is a wake-up call for Mom,

'and when Giancarlo starts acting up at the dinner table,

'it's the perfect opportunity for her to be consistent

'and deal with him as she would Nicholas.'

Can you get up now?

Do you wanna go sit in timeout?

No.

OK, so stay here, OK?

Giancarlo, you gonna sit down?

Sit down.

Or you get a timeout.

Mum gave him his warning that if he didn't listen and sit down,

that he was going to get a timeout.

OK.

You're getting a timeout.

Sit down.

You sit down. You don't get up.

- Sit down. - I wanna...

I wanna play with it, Mom.

Now that I'm using timeout with the kids,

I feel like I'm prepared to deal with a situation

should it arise, rather than, "Oh, God,

"what's gonna happen next in this house?"

'Time's up.'

I'm done.

I'm extremely pleased with Mum,

that she was able to follow through with the timeout

and be consistent, because that really is her weakest area.

Congratulations. Mommy completed a very successful timeout.

- I did a timeout. - Good job! High five, Mommy.

These children are learning their boundaries

and they're learning that what Mom says, she means.

'After dinner, it's playtime, and Mom's on a roll.

'She's talking to the kids on their level and staying firm.'

Push the gate.

Don't hit the gate. Do you understand?

Look at me. Do not hit the gate.

Stop.

Because now I know you understand.

Don't hit the gate.

HE BLOWS A RASPBERRY

'But ten minutes after a successful timeout,

'Nicholas and Giancarlo are fighting.'

Go in the tunnel this way.

Nicolas, get up.

This is your warning. Let him in,

otherwise you're getting a timeout. Let him in.

'Mum gave him a warning. If he didn't listen,

'he was gonna go to timeout.'

Hey!

Get up. Now you're getting a timeout.

This is not a joke.

You're gonna learn to listen to me.

Nicholas has never gotten a timeout like that,

and clearly, he needs to get a timeout.

I'm never, ever going away from timeout again. Never.

Now that we have the timer that will enforce the timeouts,

this way, they'll realise what they did wrong

and they won't do it again.

You caught it all right. Right on the noggin.

Nicholas stayed in his seat, no problem.

Mum was able to really follow through.

TIMER: Time's up. - Time's up.

Now, you listen to me. I'm tired of you fighting, OK?

I asked you to let him go in. You don't push him.

She explained to Nicholas what he'd done

and how to behave in future. Mum's really getting timeout.

Enough fighting.

- A little bit. - Go.

I just pray to God it always works.

'Mum's remembered what I told her about being firm

'and not giving the kids too many options.'

You guys want fruit?

Not yet.

I'm sorry, let me correct myself.

It's time for fruit and brownies.

You can have fruit and brownies now,

or you can have no fruit and brownies

and take a bath and go to bed.

DAD: Let's get some fruit and brownies.

- In the dining room.

'Now dinnertime is over,

'it's important that the kids understand the routine

'leading up to bedtime.'

Let me say what's gonna happen.

This book, then this book,

and then I turn your lamp on and you go to bed.

'Mum was a lot less flustered and very, very focused

'and the kids were all asleep by :.'

I was relieved that we had a really successful bedtime.

There was no screaming.

We kissed 'em good night and that was it.

Everybody went to sleep.

'It's the next morning, and I have a fun game for the kids

'that will encourage good listening.'

I'm gonna have Mommy and Daddy do some things with you

called Stop and Go.

Get your helmets on if you wanna go outside.

How about you run, run, run?

And when I say stop, you stop. Let's stop.

Giancarlo, stop! Stop!

Oh, come on.

- Come, go. - This way.

- Ready? - Ready, ready, ready, ready.

- Stop. Stop! - Stop!

OK, stop it. Stop, stop.

Go. OK, stop.

Stop!

- Good job! - Yeah!

Stop.

Stop. Stop.

Stop. OK, ready? Stop, stop.

Go. And stop.

- Go. - Stop.

Stop!

Yay!

- He listened. - He sure did.

Good job, Giancarlo! You listened!

'Now that the Valenti kids

'seem to be listening to Mom and Dad at home,

'it's time to test their listening skills

'at the supermarket.'

Nicholas. Giancarlo!

Nicholas. Nicholas!

I wanted to take this family to the store,

because Mom had so many problems with them in the past.

Wait, wait. I'm trying to get what I have to get

and get the hell out before something happens.

OK.

I was thinking, "This is... This is gonna be bad."

We're gonna go into the shop.

So, the rule is everybody sits and everybody listens.

We go straight to the direction of what it is that we need.

OK.

We have to find macaroni and cheese.

Giancarlo, you see macaroni cheese?

- Look over here and there. - There!

You found it!

Good job!

'For behaving nicely,

'the kids are allowed to walk around the store,

'but they have to wear the safety wristbands

'so that they don't run away.'

Do you wanna try and use the wristbands?

- I guess so. - Take a deep breath.

Then came time for, "Do you wanna get out and walk?"

And that's where I started getting...

My stomach was getting a little funny.

'But today, she's got my wristbands

'to make sure the kids don't get into trouble.'

OK, go. It's the Valenti train.

Choo-choo.

'But Nicholas is getting frustrated

'with how much the wristbands limit his movement.'

- Hold on. - But if they can't work it out,

- they have to go back in the cart. - OK.

- That's the rule.

If you continue to push your brother,

you're gonna go back in the cart and he's the only one walking.

- Do you want that to happen? - No pushing.

That was good, cos it was calm, it was rational.

It wasn't that moment of frustration.

- Yeah, you taught me how to calm down.

- Yeah. - Before, you got too overwhelmed.

You know why you're getting this?

Because you're all being such good listeners.

And I asked you to stop pushing Giancarlo,

and you're not going to, right?

You wanna go back in the cart? OK.

Mom was absolutely shocked these children behaved themselves.

- I thought she was gonna faint. - And that's where I was like,

"OK, this is, like, totally weird,

"like the Twilight Zone,"

because they never wanna get in the cart.

They prefer to run.

Before, they were in charge, basically running the show.

- He's not in charge any more! - Right.

Shopping with them and walking with them,

you know, made me feel proud of them.

Rather than unhappy.

'The children were very good.

'Mum put the techniques I'd given her into use

'and it all went very, very smoothly.'

I'm gonna take them to a mall next week.

I feel confident that I can handle them.

So, this was good. I feel at least I can leave you

- and know you can go shopping and won't starve to death.

THEY LAUGH

'It's my last day with the Valenti family,

'and there have been some real improvements.'

Thank you, Mom.

'Bottles are a thing of the past, mealtimes are calm,

'and the kids are playing nicely

'instead of getting into trouble.'

Daddy, can you spin me?

'Mum and Dad are disciplining without losing their cool.'

Momma, he's wrecking my house!

Wow. Nicholas, come here. Calm down. Look at me.

Calm down and play nice, OK?

'I'm really going to miss this family.'

Today, I have to say goodbye.

I have to go help some other kids

to learn how to be safe and to be good listeners,

and to be a happy family.

I will come back and visit.

We didn't wanna say goodbye to her. We really didn't.

I wanna say thank you to you,

cos you've been such a good boy, right?

And you've been such a good listener.

Giancarlo, I'm so proud of you.

You're following the rules and being safe.

- Safety first, right? - Safety first.

- That's right. - Safety first.

Giovanni, you've been a good boy and a good listener.

Beforehand, our family was in the stress,

but now we're on our way to a happy, healthy and safe life.

Nanny's holding it together. I have to say bye to Mommy.

This is one of the best experiences I've ever had.

Just the fact that she came here and told me what to say

and how to act is, like, a world of difference.

You just remember, you're a very strong woman

and you've proven to me and to yourself

that you are capable of this change.

I think the person that had the hardest time adjusting

is probably me.

But at least now I know how to react and what to say.

And listen. You can learn from him.

When you feel like you're struggling,

you learn from Nick, cos Nick's very calm.

- It's been such a pleasure. - Definitely a pleasure.

Thank you for everything.

My house is always open to you.

Mwah!

'My hopes for the Valenti family

'are that they continue on the path that they're on today,

'that they continue to try and have as much as possible.

'To maintain the structure and the boundaries necessary

'and to raise these children

'to be the happy, healthy, well-adjusted human beings

'I know they can be.'