Mary Poppins she's not. No sweet songs, no spoonfuls of sugar. But veteran nanny Jo Frost does have a bag full of tricks for taming the savage toddler. "A lot of parents fear their children will not love them anymore if they discipline them," says Frost, 34. "But you're the parents. There's no reason you can't place boundaries."
Now, as the star of the new ABC reality show Supernanny premiering Jan. 17, and with a new book on child-rearing out this month, Frost aims to show frazzled parents exactly how. "I've been doing this for 15 years," says the London native, who typically spends a week with each family she counsels. "It's all techniques I have used hands-on as a nanny." Chief among them: "the naughty step"—a perch to which wayward tots are banished for time-outs, consistent praise for good behavior and strict daily schedules for meals, baths and bedtimes. Without a routine, she says, "children create their own rules and try for attention by negative behavior."
When Supernanny premiered on British TV last summer, it was an instant hit with critics and viewers (FOX rushed its own version, Nanny 911, on the air in November) and Frost, who is single with no children of her own, became a media darling. But her biggest fans maybe the families she has helped. "I was living in chaos," says Barbara Jeans, who was overwhelmed by 3-year-old twins Jessie and Leah and 4-year-old Andra. "She established a routine we still follow."
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