How does she do it? The Three Day Nanny

There’s a trim woman in a tweed suit kneeling on the floor of a suburban house gleefully pulling wet laundry out of a washing machine and strewing it across the floor. Then she yoinks a used teabag off the counter and starts smushing it in her hands before strewing it about the kitchen. She is making a colossal mess and having a grand time of it, too. This is Kathryn Mewes, and she’s waiting for Mom or Dad to stop her. The moment they get the right tone and firmness in their voice when saying “No”, she’ll rise up again and carry on helping them to learn how to raise their kids in a happier, calmer environment, with care and discipline, so that everyone can take a breath, get some sleep, and unwind a bit.

The trick? She is promising to give Mom and Dad all the tools that they need to handle their bolters, biters, screamers, criers, whiners, messers and those bedtime and mealtime meltdowns… in just 3 days.

Lady, how?

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Inside The Three Day Nanny

How do you get the kids to not pay attention to you and the camera crew?

“When we film The Three Day Nanny, I'm only there for 3 days, literally. They drive me to the house and they go, “There's the door Kathryn, number 46. A mom or dad, and there's 2 boys aged 4 and 6. Off you go”. And that's it. But the 2 weeks before that the film crew and the children and the parents get used to being filmed. So when I go in for the first day, I just talk to the parents. And then I say to the children, “We're going to have some great fun, but today you have to just pretend like I'm not here. I can't answer any of your questions. Tomorrow, it's going to be awesome. I've got you both something, we're going to have a really good time. But I'm not here today.” And they just do it. We'll have up to 8 people filming in the house while I'm in, so they've got used to that, and I think they just see me as another member of the crew. And the crew have a criteria that they don't really talk to the family. They don't get overly familiar, they don't get very friendly. We're all sort of “moving wallpaper”, we call it.”

What did you think of the introductory sequence to the show, when they've crammed as much naughty behaviour in from the children as possible?

“I chose to only see it when the nation saw it, and whenever I watched that opening scene, I would always go. “They're not that bad. You've made it look like carnage!” But of course that’s TV, isn't it? I'd like to think my girls are well behaved, but I'm sure they do enough in 1 day that if you packed it all in and put some dramatic music behind it, they would look like tearaways.”

How did you select your outfits for the show?

“I have always worn a practical, wraparound dress that I can crawl around the floor in. I can cross my legs and I can feel comfortable. I make my own clothes. I had 1 pattern, and I whipped up a load of dresses. And I love tweed, I've got a load of tweed jackets. So I chucked 1 on and when it's cold, I put a barrier on my head. And that's how I cycled around London. I did a 3-day stint in a London house, and the man there was very senior in Channel Four. And he just said, “I need to film this. This is the new Supernanny thing, this Three Day Nanny”. He didn't change me at all, it was just my clothes, with a pair of flat shoes that I can run for the bus in or run for the child that's running for the bus!”

In the episodes you have scenes where you’re pretending to be a toddler. What’s it like to film those?

“The film crew absolutely loved it! It's the final resort that I have to do when a parent just can't see through the eyes of a child. I'm the advocate, the minute I walk into that house, I need parents to be on board, I need them to like me and ask to be a team. 1 of the things I need to do is to make them see life through the eyes of a child. Sometimes I can just describe it and they understand. Other times I have to take it a step further. I have to act out. And then beyond that, I make them act out. So they start to feel what it's like – the freedom of pulling all the clothes out of the washing machine. And you don't have to tidy them up! I love doing those scenes. We always have a good old laugh. I don't think you cannot like someone when they're willing to be stupid, and they realise if I can belittle myself to be a 2-year-old who's pretty close to biting your ankles, I'm never going to judge you. It breaks a lot of barriers.”

Is there a separation between you as a mother and you as a nanny?

“In the first series of The Three Day Nanny, I was going through IVF treatments. And after 8 miscarriages and umpteen amounts of trying in the first season, in the second season, I was pregnant with my first child. That was when things started to change. I definitely needed more tissues in season 3. I definitely needed more hugs. I definitely broke down more. I think now if I were to read my books, I might think they're harsh. I might think they're a bit blunt, I might think they're quite hard to follow. Because when I wrote them, I was a nanny. And I felt, “How hard can it be?” But I didn't have emotional attachment. And now that I do, I think it would be a whole different show.”

If you could be a child for a day, what would you like to do?

“Okay, I'm thinking that I'm about 4 years old. I think I'd start by emptying out my mother's cupboards. I would then insist on going out on my bike, whether it's raining or shining. I would like to face-paint my parents. I would like to choose their clothes for the day. We're not going to walk the dog. And we'll just eat nice food; we'll probably have fish because I like fish. And I'd like lots of bedtime stories. I don't want my mom and dad to have their phones. And I don't want the TV on. I'd like us to be together all day. And I can answer that, because my daughter Harriet (my eldest) has said a very similar thing when I've asked her. But I definitely would empty all the cupboards. I'd love to know what that's that feels like when somebody else just has to put it all back together. “

Watch The Three Day Nanny Season 3, Saturdays & Sundays at 21:35 on CBS Reality (DStv Channel 132)

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