I was recently sent the below video of the upcoming season of The Next Iron Chef, which premieres on the Food Network on Sunday, October 4th at 9:00 PM EDT.
This second season features ten new chefs competing for the top spot as the new Iron Chef on the series. The line-up includes:
1. Amanda Freitag from The Harrison in New York City
2. Brad Farmerie from Double Crown, Madam Geneva, Public, and The Monday Room in New York City
3. Dominique Crenn from Luce @ InterContinental in San Francisco
4. Eric Greenspan from The Foundry on Melrose in Los Angeles
5. Holly Smith from Café …read more

Over the summer I’ve been reviewing Supernanny: How to Get the Best from Your Children chapter by chapter. Here is an index of all posts in the review. I’ve got her new book, Ask Supernanny: What Every Parent Wants to Know, on the way, and I’ll be reviewing it later on as well.
Book Overview
Introduction; and Ages & Stages
Rules & Routines; and Setting Boundaries
Dressing & Washing
Toilet Training
Eating
Social Skills
Bedtime
Quality Time
Order Supernanny: How to Get the Best from Your Children from Amazon.com

We’ve arrived at the end of our book review, and the last chapter is on Quality Time. Here Supernanny brings it all together. All of the techniques and tips mentioned in the previous pages are designed to get us here, a place where we can manage well the day-to-day needs of life and be able to enjoy one another.
For example, let’s look at routines. Not only do routines allow parents to efficiently get through the nitty-gritty of bedtime and mealtime, so that those tasks don’t wind up dominating the day; but they are also opportunities for quality time in and …read more

The new Supernanny.com is up, and it’s looking pretty good. I’ll dig into it over the next few days and let you know what I think. For now I’ll let you know that it’s supposed to redirect to Supernanny.co.uk.

ABC has announced that Supernanny will return Monday, December 4th, in the 9pm time slot. Jo will build on reality cousin lead-in Wife Swap and be followed by red-shirt freshman dramedy What About Brian.

News of the new season is starting to trickle out. We already know one family is from Hawaii. Looks like another is from Trinity, Florida, near Tampa/St. Petersburg. Barbara L. Fredricksen was on hand to watch the taping, and she lets us in on even more locations:
Only four people fly from location to location with Ms. Frost: her hairdresser, director, production manager and the head supervisor. In the past few weeks, they’ve gone from Hawaii (they were there when the earthquake struck) to Alaska to Florida. Next up is Wisconsin, then Salt Lake City and then who knows where.
I also …read more

In the continuing storm of Supernanny controversy, some experts have taken exception to the word “naughty.” The concern is that calling a child naughty will damage the child’s psyche and self-confidence.
Part of the rational behind the concern is a self-fulfilling prophesy argument. Call a child naughty often enough, and they will undoubtedly end up being naughty. Verbal abuse has the ability to beat down and break a child as surely as a fist. But does calling a child naughty constitute verbal abuse?
I think it’s a fine line. We use the word naughty in our house; it’s been assimilated from the …read more

Have you wondered what the Supernanny casting directors are looking for? Well, here’s the scoop straight from one of them:

ADOPTION – are you adoptive parents and have problems like everyone else, but also there are issues particular to adoption?
SPOILED PRINCES & PRINCESSES – does your little one think she’s in charge? Does he boss even you around? Have you let them get away with everything and now you worry it’s too late?
BULLIES – does your kid bully other children at school, in the neighborhood, in your family?
PAGEANT KIDS – does your child participate in pageants and it’s a …read more

It’s almost nine here, and I’m at the computer typing away quietly. That means I’ve successfully navigated our next topic… at least for the moment. Bedtime.
Right from the introduction, Supernanny appreciates the seriousness of a good night’s sleep.
Anyone can bounce back after the odd broken night, but weeks and weeks of lost evenings or disturbed rest amount to pure torture. When you’re that exhausted, the simplest task becomes an uphill struggle. Without regular sleep, even the happiest, most easygoing person will be irritable, depressed, less able to concentrate and more likely to have accidents or fall ill. If that zombie-like …read more

I thought I’d take a quick moment to mention the official Supernanny items available through Amazon, the Season #1 DVD, and her two parenting books.