Silas, Kaia, Ellie and Anna McAfee of Eagle River hang on their father, Brian, Monday, a week after an episode of “Supernanny” featuring their family aired on television. PHOTO BY AMY M. ARMSTRONG

But according to Brian McAfee, the single father living there with his four children — Ellie, Silas, Kaia and Anna, they haven't had to use it much.

“I haven't been on the naughty bench that much lately,” said Silas McAfee, a 7-year-old second-grader, who did spend his fair share of time on the naughty bench when Supernanny Jo Frost spent more than a week with his family last fall.

“Things are better,” said Brian McAfee, the single dad who put in an application to the show's producers last summer. “I am a much more consistent parent.”

Overwhelmed by the guilt of a painful divorce and the demand of raising four children, all under the age of 10, by himself, McAfee admits his parenting skills took a nose dive.

“I've watched her show before, and I thought that maybe she could help me,” he said. “I knew that the family was not as strong as it could or should be. I knew we were not connecting. I knew it was up to me to get the ball rolling, but I just did not know how to do that.”

Enter the Supernanny with her British wit and common-sense child rearing.

It took a few months of interviews, background checks and even a vote by the members of the condo association McAfee belongs to before clearance was given for the Supernanny to come.

Or should we say, land, as she arrived at Lake Hood in Anchorage on a seaplane, which raised some questions for McAfee.

Not only is that not his neighborhood, it simply is nowhere near McAfee's condo, which is tucked just off the Old Glenn Highway behind the Parkgate Building.

McAfee said he was surprised when he saw promotional commercials for his family's episode about a week before its Feb. 19 airdate.

He didn't know she came in by seaplane when the family was being filmed.

“When I saw on TV that she showed up on a seaplane and we realized it was Lake Hood, I was pretty surprised,” McAfee said. “And then, with the scenery that they showed of only the mountains, they made it look like I lived in some village instead of a bedroom community to the state's major metropolis. I mean, we do have streets and lawns and stuff like that here in Eagle River. But I guess they were really trying to play to the Alaska theme.”

While he thinks the production crew may have missed the mark in portraying his hometown, McAfee said the Supernanny was right on target with the advice she gave him.

Ellie, Kaia and Anna McAfee pose outside their Eagle River home with Supernanny Jo Frost's trademark umbrella, which was left behind when the production crew for the ABC reality television show packed up after more than a week of filming in October. PHOTO BY AMY M. ARMSTRONG

“She really helped me,” McAfee said. She gave me confidence in myself as a parent and made me realize that I can do this.”

It wasn't an easy experience, McAfee admits.

In the one-hour program, viewers saw his children's behavior get out of control. There's a scene in which McAfee loses his cool and gets right in his oldest daughter's face as she tells him he's a “bad daddy.” The segment ends with McAfee crying.

“I had a friend from Colorado call me up after the show aired and tell me, ÔMan, I never knew what you went through,'” McAfee said.

He admits it took a lot of courage to go through with having his entire home invaded with cameras and lights following the family's every move 12 hours a day.

“It was grueling,” he said. “Plus, what made it even more difficult was the fact that the kids could not watch TV or play video games. We couldn't use some of the entertainment that we usually do.”

The family had to come up with alternate forms of fun — things that involved everyone such as the tea party scene that aired on the hour-long episode.

Brian donned a shawl and an old lady voice, and the kids loved it.

“I had to let myself go,” McAfee said of the segment. It was one of the few times he wasn't completely aware of the cameras around him. “It was a lot of fun, and I really connected with my kids during that.”

And then there is the scene in which he sits cross-legged on the bed with his oldest daughter, Ellie, a 9-year-old third-grader whose anger over the loss she feels due to her parents' divorce and her mother's lack of involvement in her life was often expressed through inappropriate and bossy behavior.

Brian talks candidly with his daughter about how she needs to stop trying to be the boss and let him take the leadership of the home and that it is OK to miss her mom. He gives her a bracelet and promises he will always be there for her.

The emotion of the moment isn't lost on his daughter, who months later said she still treasures the bracelet and understands what her father was trying to tell her.

“I know he will be here for me,” Ellie said.

However, McAfee said some members of his family are becoming somewhat worn out from the attention they are getting out in public.

“Everywhere we go people say, ÔHey, I saw you on TV,'” Silas said. “It's getting on my nerves.”

For his younger sister, Kaia, a 6-year-old kindergartener, the Supernanny's appearance at her home has given her classmates plenty of fodder to ponder.

“They tell me, ÔOh, you must have been in deep trouble for your dad to call the Supernanny,'” Kaia said.

Learn more about the Supernanny program at http://abc.go.com/primetime/supernanny/.

Reach the reporter at news@alaskastar.com.

This article published in The Alaska Star on Thursday, March 1, 2007.