History Series / Supernanny

* [[WickedStepmother Wicked Stepfather]]: Phil Davis is emotionally and physically abusive and verbally belittles his stepdaughter Morgan to the point where she's in tears.

* WhenYouComingHomeDad: Jo has dealt with her share of workaholic parents, both moms and dads. Sometimes this even happens with stay-at-home moms, like the Amouri and Larmer mothers, who are so concerned with cleaning their homes that they don't actually spend time with their kids.

* AdultFear: Quite a bit. Many of the families Jo helps suffer from tragic situations, such as [[MissingMom the death of]] [[DisappearedDad a parent]], the loss of a child to crib death or extremely premature births.

* EnfantTerrible: The children, while disrespectful and aggressive, are very rarely this. In some cases, the parents are so overwhelmed that they ''think'' their kids are this, and say so. In others, however, there have been children who acted out so much that they even shocked Jo.

** [[AbusiveOffspring Inverted]] in the case of the Baulisch family, where the younger children are extremely abusive to their deaf parents and hearing elder sister. The younger children take full advantage of the fact their parents can't hear and make their elder sister's life a living hell before Jo arrives.

* ParentalNeglect: There are some parents on the show that are so wrapped up in their kid's bad behavior that they end up neglecting the more well behaved children.

* AsianAndNerdy: The parents of the An-Duan family seem to want their kids to become this. Thus, they overload them with activities like Chinese school, sports, ballet, writer's workshops, and more. Jo gets them to shape up, though.

* CuteButCacophonic: Lord, some of these cute little kids can SCREAM. Adam Gorbea, age 2, and Dylan Van Acker, 3, were two of the biggest offenders. Charlie Woods from the UK seasons age 2, was another offender.

* EnfantTerrible: The children, while disrespectful and aggressive, are very rarely this. In some cases, the parents are so overwhelmed that they ''think'' their kids are this, and say so. In others, however, there have been children who acted out so much they even shocked Jo.

** Megan Cooke and Maddie Porter were two nine-year-old girls who could out-tantrum kids a third their age, and they did.
** Cameron Smith-Clarke from the fourth season of the UK Series was beyond out of control. Allowed near-complete command of his family due to the unfortunate loss of his younger brother Josh to cot death, Cameron violently attacked other children, his parents, and his surviving brother Mackenzie, who was only a year old. His father spent the episode with one of his hands in a cast, and it's heavily implied Cameron broke that hand. To add insult to injury, the boy attacked his father's cast at one point in the episode, and the pain briefly forced him to leave the house. All of this came about simply due to the grief of his parents. If there ever was a true EnfantTerrible in the series, Cameron definitely held that crown.

* MamasBoy: It's not always a boy, but some of the kids are quite attached to their mothers, to the point that they don't use life skills they are perfectly capable of executing. An egregious example is seven-year-old Travis Uva, who expected his mother to wipe his bottom every time he went to the toilet.

* SoapPunishment: One mother used a squirt bottle of soap to discipline her son for telling his brother to "smell his own buttcrack". Jo Frost (the titular nanny) was ''[[WhatTheHellHero horrified]]'', and tried to convince the mother that she was invoking DisproportionateRetribution and poisoning the boy. Sadly, the mother's ego was too over-inflated, and she saw it as a way to command the respect she thinks she deserves, causing Jo and the mother to cuss each other out. And her poor husband sits there suffering. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWFudcOHwJ8 It really has to be seen to be believed]].

** In the Minyon family, fairly well-behaved son Frank Patrick is ignored in favor of his bratty little sister Skyler. Frank, the father, calls Skyler "Daddy's little princess" and says that she can do no wrong, but treats his son poorly.

* HairTriggerTemper: Quite a few of the kids and parents are shown to have volcanic tempers, which can lead to great physical/emotional to one or more parties.

-->'''Maryann:''' I dont like my mum. Shes definitely horrible. Shes selfish and horrible. She never lets me do nothing. She just tells me off. Putting her face straight up to me and looking into my eyes and saying "I hate you".

** Cameron Smith-Clarke from the fourth season of the UK Series was beyond out of control. Allowed near-complete command of his family due to the unfortunate loss of his younger brother to cot death, Cameron violently attacked other children, his parents, and his surviving brother, who was only a year old. His father spends the episode with one of his hands in a cast, and it's heavily implied his son broke that hand. To add insult to injury, this kid attacked his father's cast at one point in the episode, and the pain nearly forced him to leave the house. All of this came about simply due to the grief of his parents. If there ever was a true EnfantTerrible in the series, Cameron definitely holds that crown.

* InSeriesNickname : "Supernanny" for Jo, of course, which is usually used in the submission reels, and occasionally used by parents to refer to Jo in front of their kids. Jo also introduces herself to younger kids as "Jo-Jo".

** The Wischmeyers, where nine-year-old Jared was both ignored because of, and blamed for, his four-year-old twin sisters' bad behavior.

* TheBully: The children who often act out at home will also usually pick on their friends as well should they happen to be over at their house.

A RealityTV show produced by Ricochet which originated in the United Kingdom. It's about Jo Frost helping parents who are struggling with their children's behaviour. The UK version aired on Creator/Channel4 from 2004 to 2012, and the US version on Creator/{{ABC}} from 2005-2011.

** The British miniseries ''Extreme Parental Guidance'' had some, well, extreme versions of this trope, appearing at least three times. Nine-year-old Max, for instance, would only eat custard cream cookies and had apparently never had a hot meal in his life. Four-year-old Kieran was so picky that she threw up every time she ate anything, and her mother resorted to force-feeding just to get her to take in minimum calories.

** Inverted in the case of the Baulisch family, where the younger children are extremely abusive to their deaf parents and hearing elder sister. The younger children take full advantage of the fact their parents can't hear and make their elder sister's life a living hell before Jo arrives.

** Jo has called a few parents out on corporal punishment or using hot sauce to keep a child from talking back. She also took one dad to task for calling his son a "little whiny brat." The worst case was with the Davis family, where the father made a habit of [[DontMakeMeTakeMyBeltOff using his belt on his kids]] and calling his daughters "bitch", "whore", and "slut". The ''Supernanny'' wiki states that Phil, the father, has been arrested a number of times since the show aired for [[DomesticAbuse domestic violence]].
** The Fernandez parents are extremely verbally abusive before Jo finishes her work. Mom is particularly guilty. She threatens to knock her kids' teeth out or bust their lips. She also uses the police as a threat, and points out random strangers on the street to her two young sons. She then tells them that the stranger (a man in the case Jo observes) "takes away little boys who don't listen to their parents...he takes them into the kitchen, chops them up, and eats them."

* AdultFear: Quite a bit. Many of the families Jo helps suffer from tragic situations, such as [[MissingMom the death of]] [[DisappearedDad a parent]], the loss of a child to crib death, or extremely premature births.

* MagicalNanny: In very aspect except truly being magical. Jo enters troubled households, lays down the law, teaches the parents and bonds with the kids. After she feels that the family is under control and happier, Jo leaves to help another family.

** An interesting case sometimes pops up when Jo meets a dad who's also named Joe.

* IWishedYouWereDead: An episode has a 3-year-old threatening this towards his own mother and Jo.

* IronicName: The name "Blythe" means happy, and Blythe Newsome is anything but, she had to move, she had a divorce AND lost her nanny to cancer.

* GoToYourRoom: Jo discourages having children do time-out in their bedrooms, as it is the place where they sleep and play.