Down to earth
People can’t resist calling her the “modern Mary Poppins,” but Jo Frost doesn’t fly around with an umbrella or step into magical chalk drawings.
Not that this down-to-earth Brit can’t work a little magic. Her second season as the star of ABC’s “Supernanny” draws the most 18- to 34-year-old viewers in its Friday night time slot – more than 8 million Americans who love watching Frost bring order to families that may be similar to their own.
Her methods, which stress consistency, positive discipline and speaking to children literally at their own level, were honed entirely through experience. Though she’s keen on theater, that’s not what her show is about.
“It’s all me – no drama at all,” says the woman who’s made “the naughty step” part of the parental lexicon. “I’m stunned that so many Americans think I’m an actress. I’m not an actress. I’m a nanny!”
It was a career she fell into after countless hours of baby-sitting. After 15 years of taking care of various people’s children, she answered an ad in a magazine to try out for the British version of “Supernanny,” now in its third season.
“There aren’t any parenting experts I consult,” she said, “although, of course, I would if there were a special-needs child, because that’s not my area.”
She has become an expert in her own right, fielding questions through her parenting column in The Sun, a London newspaper (“Dear Jo: Our 3-year-old son refuses to do poos on the toilet”) and from strangers on the street.
“I don’t have a problem with that,” Frost insists. “People feel they want to come up to me, and I want to be approachable. At the end of the day I’m a people person.”
It’s that trait that makes her show click, because Supernanny can’t change children’s behavior without getting their parents on board.
“I deal with a family,” she says. “Every family is unique, so there will be different issues concerning that family that explain why certain behaviors are allowed to happen. But the scenarios will always be the same: potty training, eating, sleeping, discipline.”
She’s outlined her methods in the book “Supernanny: How to Get the Best From Your Children” (Hyperion, 224 pages, $14.95), which spent 17 weeks on The New York Times’ best-seller list after debuting last January.
Has there ever been a child who failed to respond to her techniques?
“Not as yet,” she answers cautiously. “I wouldn’t want to say never.”
Frost’s commitments on both sides of the Atlantic force her to make time to care for her own needs.
“I love green tea at the moment,” she says, “and I have no worries about spending the money for massages and reflexology to make sure that mentally I’m strong.”
That doesn’t leave a lot of time for the unnamed “special person” in her life, much less thoughts of marriage and motherhood.
And that’s OK. “I don’t feel pressured at 35 to push out the kids,” Frost says.
For now, home base is the London house she grew up in. But she’s not there often, between her TV schedule and her penchant for world travel. She trekked to Egypt last year with her widowed father, Michael, and she’s recently been to the Caribbean, Maui and Marrakech, as well.
Though her catapult into the public eye came rather unexpectedly, Frost can’t see going back to obscurity when “Supernanny” has had its run.
“Who knows what’s around the corner?” she says. “Right now I’m getting reward and fulfillment from what I do, and I hope it lasts a long time.”
How about a travel show?
“Yes, perhaps I would do that!” she says. “A travel show for children.”