G.,
I don't mean to be rude, but are you for real? TWO HOURS of very consistently putting her kids back to bed and one was determined to have none of it.
I usually can't stand this show, but Jo was absolutely right. She found that consistency wasn't working; in this case, she adjusted the consequence to something which was both age-appropriate AND let him know that if he were to continue misbehaving, things would not be 'okay' the next day-- he would be doing without favorite things. Great motivator and shows who is in charge.
When kids are as old as Joseph is, we do not need to be spending the evening dragging them back to bed. My son is nearly six and occasionally has a hard time in the evening-- he wants more attention. When he was three and four we did the 'put him back into bed' things. Now, he just knows-- he loses privileges for not staying quiet in his room. I am not spending a whole evening giving him my attention by being 'on the ready' to put him back into bed. "If I hear you call out, if you are up again and you are not bleeding, throwing up or dying, you will lose your legos (or stay-up time, or tv time) for the next X many days."
Joseph *knew* he was up to nonsense, G.. He knew he was making life hard for his mother. He deserved a very real consequence for this. I don't think 'fair' has anything to do with it, either. She wasn't 'singling him out'-- not all kids respond to the same techniques, and she could plainly see that they could prove a point, the slow way or the fast way. (and how would he think he was 'singled out' -- do you think he is watching the show with any critical thinking? Why would a parent even *let* a child of that age watch a show like this?) This also empowered the mother to know that she did have other appropriate choices and that she could get the kids to bed on her own. THAT was the part we forget-- that this is meant to help the parent adopt a new way of doing something, and this mother needed to feel her efforts were successful. She was already feeling like a failure or she wouldn't have likely chosen to go on a show like this to begin with.
I also agree that it's not healthy for a child of that age to have so much media in their room at their disposal. Media is the LAST thing my son gets to do, and he watches his show in the living room, where I can see/hear it.
G., what would you have done in that exact situation?