Child abuse.
These two words are very upsetting and triggering to many people. Abusing, torturing, and hurting anything is bad.
But to abuse a child, a poor, innocent, extremely vulnerable person who has never done anything wrong to you...is a special type of an evil. An evil that no one should justify or understand. An evil that must be stopped.
An evil that's sadly more common than we think.
Which brings us to one of the most infamous examples of real child abuse seen on live television: The Supernanny episode:
The Davis Family.
WARNING: This episode contains possibly triggering content relating to child abuse, both verbal and physical. There's discussion relating to toxic home environments, domestic abuse, slut shaming, and misogyny. Viewer discretion advised!
Yes, I have to put this warning on a SUPERNANNY episode!
FWI...
If you don't know what already know what Supernanny is, it's a reality TV-show based from Britain about a woman named Jo Frost, who specializes in helping broken families, struggling parents, and misbehaving kids. Most often or not it's portrayed as if she's fixing "bad children", when in reality she's fixing bad parents.
The episode we'll be discussing, "The Davis Family", is no different. It was the 14th episode of Season 5. You can learn more about the episode, it's reception, and etc. by visiting the Supernanny wiki: https://supernanny.fandom.com/wiki/The_Davis_Family_(Season_5)
You can also watch the full-episode (uncensored) here:
Already, looking at the thumbnail of a girl about to cry, and the title "Foul-mouthed father ruins all family relationships", you can tell this episode's going to be heavy.
Here's a drinking game (that applies to all parts). Take a shot anytime I say:
- toxic
- misogyny / misogynistic
- abuse / abusive
- wow / woah
- stop
- apathy / apathetic
- hell
- abuse / abusive
- parent / parentified
- sexualize
- shame
- poor
Stalling aside, let's begin, shall we?
PART 1: Meeting the Family
All Supernanny episodes begin with Jo riding a car and watching a Demo Reel of the family, submitted by the parents. Today's no different, as we meet the Davises from Florida.
Family Preview
 |
| Trust me, you're going to hate seeing these faces soon. Especially his. |
Let's introduce ourselves to the family. The parents are Debbie and Phil respectively, and they have 5 children:
- Morgan (14) - eldest daughter
- Phillip Jr. (9) - only son
- Madison (4)
- Tiffany (3)
- Tori (2)
 |
| The Davis Family (excluding Debbie) |
The younger 3 daughters, who are absolutely adorable by the way, Madison, Tiffany, and Tori, will frequently be grouped together as simply "the girls". Morgan will also have an important role in this story. And for Phillip Jr, we actually don't really get to meet him. Aside from seeing him on camera and him being mentioned occasionally, he doesn't even speak a single line the episode. Which could either be interpreted him as being shy or...scared. We'll talk about that later.
Anyway, Phil is a water-plant operator and Debbie is a commercial-insurance sales producer. Seems like an average American family household.
For at least 10 seconds, until the drama already begins. We immediately learn that Phil is actually Morgan's step-dad, not biological dad, which already gives you a hint their relationship might not be the strongest. This is quickly supported by the first of many infuriating scenes in the episode:
 |
| "Morgan was up here watching 'em and look what she let them do!" Uh...your referring to you. |
Phil is on the couch, and Debbie notices the girls' got their toys all over the floor, so she tells Phil to help clean up. However, he then says that's Morgan's responsibility, which- no, it's not? Your the DAD, you're the one supposed to be helping? Also, notice how on the right, it appears Morgan is doing her homework. She should be focusing on that, Phil.
Phil then hints at his misogyny by explaining what he thinks his wife should do:
 |
| "First thing a wife should do is she should have the house cleaned before she leaves, she should have the kids ready in a decent time, when she gets home from work, which, ey-, you sitting on your rear end all day." |
Yes. He actually says this about his own wife. Hey, Phil, what do you do? Your WIFE is the one who cleans, your WIFE is the one who gets the kids ready, but what do YOU do, other than...well..."sitting on your rear end all day"? You can tell this man has seriously outdated and kind of sexist opinions on what women are supposed to do. And look at Debbie, stuck in this awkward marriage.
They Debbie talks about how the mornings here are awful. It takes over an hour just to get a sleepy Morgan ready, and at the same time, she has to help get her sisters ready for daycare. No one cooperates, and it often means the family is late to everything.
 |
| "Morgan does help me do that, she complains about it, whines about it, but it's what we have to do." |
Wait...what do you mean WE?! Morgan's 14! While it's great for older siblings to help around the house, imagine Morgan having to do such work to get her sisters ready and under control when her parents should be doing most of that. She has to get to school herself, mind you.
This all tells me how much Morgan is parentified in this house. Instead of being able to focus on what she needs to do, she's essentially parenting her sisters all the time. She has to pick up their toys, she has to help get them ready, she probably has to get them to bed as well. No wonder Morgan takes forever to wake up, she's probably always tired from helping his sisters all the time!
Not only is Morgan stressed out from essentially being her sister's 2nd mother, but her constantly being late, having trouble sleeping, and not being able to catch up with her schoolwork is even causing her to fail school.
 |
| "I'm a straight A student, but I'm failing my first period because I'm always late. |
How do you allow this?! Poor Morgan should be focusing on school, not her younger sisters.
