I just watched my first episode. My easy child called me in because she said I'd be interested. We had a few "aha" moments of recognition in reg. to difficult child.
Turns out we do everything we're supposed to. easy child and I gave ea text item a thumbs up when it flashed on the screen. I was actually glad that easy child saw that stripping a kid's room is an okay thing to do, because she was very judgmental when we first did it and you know how teenagers accept TV as a sort of validation ...
He doesn't say anything that other professionals don't already say, except that he does bring in the parents and give it to them straight.
One mom had lost her daughter to a brain tumor and was so busy grieving that she totally ignored her son, who turned into a monster and refused to show his emotions, except to be demanding and bossy and rude. He thought he was supposed to be tough. He finally admitted he didn't want to cry in front of his mom. Dr. Phil told her she created him and it was her responsibility to work it out, and he gave her and the other moms some tools that we use here.
I had to chuckle at the suggestion to "catch your kids doing something right." It's the same thing our dog obedience instructor told us about our fear-biting dog! It's especially hard when you've gone for months seeing only bad things happen. You scrimp and find one teensy good thing and feel silly praising it, but boy, does it work!
The others just yelled too much and needed to step back and enforce the rules instead of giving up and walking away because it's too hard.
Two had no husbands (no background info, just noticed that there were only two dads on the show who were workaholics, ergo, never home) and the moms had it very rough and Dr. Phil didn't say a word about anger issues or any background info, he just gave the moms the tools they needed.
I get tired of the camera cuts--the fast motion literally makes my eyes and head hurt--and I get tired of all the clips from yesterday and tomorrow, not to mention the commercials, so I'll stick with-Dr. Rosemond, who isn't as into formal theatrics. I've always been a book person, anyway.