Romo Family/Transcript

Submission Reel
Narrator: The Romo family, a family in West Midlands in Birmingham, consisting of single mum Martha with her three children - 14-year-old Leon, 11-year-old Karen-Marie, and 8-year-old Celeste.

Time for school
Kendra: "It was time for the children to get ready for school, but Celeste refused to go to school."

Martha: "Celeste Charlotte, Karen-Marie, Leon Bryce. It's time to wake up for school."

Celeste: "No."

Martha: "Celeste, please."

Celeste: "I don't want to go to school."

Martha: "Get up...NOW!!!"

Kendra: "Celeste was having none of it."

[Celeste starts throwing a tantrum by crying and throwing pillows at Martha]

Martha: "That is not nice, Celeste. Throwing pillows at Mummy!"

Celeste: "I DON'T WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL!!!"

Martha: "CELESTE CHARLOTTE!!!! GET YOUR CLOTHES ON AND DON'T BE STUPID!!!"

Celeste: "SHUT UP!!!"

Martha: "If I have to smack you, I will!"

Kendra: "Then all of a sudden, Martha threatened to spank Celeste. That's a no-no in my book."

[Martha drags a crying Celeste downstairs]

Martha: "Your brother and sister are waiting in the car, Celeste. Let's go."

[Celeste starts kicking Martha's leg]

Martha: "STOP IT NOW!!!"

[Celeste continues to kick Martha, who starts to cry]

Martha: "Celeste. Please get in the car."

Celeste: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

[Celeste continues kicking and crying]

[Leon runs over Martha and hugs her]

Leon: "It's okay Mum."

Martha: (sobbing) "I'm just over this constant battle every morning."

Kendra: "I understand perfectly."

Celeste: (sobbing) "No school."

Martha: "Celeste, please get in the car."

[Celeste screams and throws a tantrum]

Martha: "CELESTE CHARLOTTE!!! I'M SICK OF YOUR NONSENSE!!! GET IN THE CAR BEFORE I SMACK YOU!!!"

Kendra: "And no sooner, Karen-Marie kicked off."

Karen-Marie: "You are such a Mommy's boy, Leon!"

Leon: "Leave me alone."

Karen-Marie: "HURRY UP MOM, I'M GONNA BE (bleep) LATE!!!!"

Martha: "Don't rush or speak to me like that, Karen-Marie!"

Karen-Marie: "(bleep)!!!"

Martha: "You want a smack?"

Karen-Marie: "A smack? That's a laugh!"

Martha: "So help me Karen-Marie, I'll do it!"

Kendra: "Karen-Marie answers back to Mum whenever she talks to her and that has to change."

[Martha drives the children to school, 20 minutes later]

Homework Dilemma
Kendra: "When the kids arrived home from school, the first thing Martha wanted them to do was do their homework. But Karen-Marie was in no mood to co-operate."

Martha: "Karen-Marie, you need to do your homework."

Karen-Marie: "I don't want to do it!"

Martha: "Well, you have to. It's part of your schooling."

Karen-Marie: "I'm NOT doing it!"

Martha: "Drop the attitude!"

[Karen-Marie pinches Martha's arm]

Martha: "Don't pinch me!"

Karen-Marie: "Bite me!"

Martha: "DON'T SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT!!!"

Karen-Marie: "Whatever!"

[Karen-Marie storms upstairs]

Martha: "KAREN-MARIE!!!! I'M NOT JOKING WHEN I SAY THIS, IF YOU DON'T COME DOWNSTAIRS AND DO YOUR HOMEWORK, I WILL BE SMACKING YOUR BACKSIDE!!!"

Karen-Marie: "You wouldn't dare!"

Martha: "Don't push it!"

Karen-Marie: "NEVER!"

[Celeste smacks Leon in the face]

Leon: "Ow!"

Martha: "CELESTE!!! YOU DO NOT HIT ANYBODY!!!"

Celeste: "Shut up, you stupid (bleep)!"

Martha: "Right. That's it!"

[Martha grabs Celeste and sends her to the living room]

Martha: "Until you apologize to your brother, you can stay in the living room!"

Kendra: "In the living room? What kind of discipline is that?"

[Celeste throws pillows at Martha]

Martha: "CELESTE CHARLOTTE ROMO!!!! STOP THROWING PILLOWS AT ME!!!"

Celeste: "(bleep)!"

Martha: "AND DON'T USE THAT WORD!!! IT'S NOT NICE!!!"

Celeste: "I CAN USE BAD WORDS WHENEVER I WANT TO, SO I DON'T (bleep)ING CARE!"

Martha: "YOU SHOULD NOT SWEAR BECAUSE IT IS NOT APPROPRIATE!"

Celeste: "DIDN'T YOU LISTEN TO WHAT I SAID?! I SAID THAT I CAN USE BAD LANGUAGE WHENEVER I WANT TO!"

Kendra: "I find it absolutely horrifying to see Celeste and Karen-Marie use profanity to get the attention they want. It's just crazy that Mom allows this to happen."

Celeste: "Mom stinks like cow poo!"

Martha: "THAT'S ENOUGH CELESTE!!! THE NEXT TIME YOU SAY THAT, I'LL GIVE YOU A SMACK!!!"

Celeste: "YOU SMELL AS AWFUL AS COW DUNG, MOM!"

[That night...]

[Celeste screams at the top of her lungs]

Bedtime Mishap(s)
Kendra: "Later that evening, Mum was trying to get Celeste off to bed. However, Celeste wanted to watch a video."

Martha: "Can you get into bed please?"

Celeste: "I WANNA WATCH MY VIDEO!!!"

Martha: "WELL, YOU'RE NOT HAVING IT CELESTE!!! NOW, DON'T BE STUPID AND GET INTO BED!!!"

Celeste: "SHUT UP! I'M WATCHING A VIDEO!!!"

Martha: "No, you're not!"

Celeste: "YES...I...AM!!!"

[Martha unplugs the Blu-ray player and TV]

Celeste: "I'M WATCHING A VIDEO!!!"

Martha: "NO, YOU'RE NOT!!!"

Celeste: "YES! YES! YES!"

Martha: "You're not having it."

Celeste: "YES, I AM! YOU'RE A (bleep)!!! DAD SHOULD HAVE TAKEN US, YOU UNEASY (bleep)!!!"

[Martha stands there and wipes away a tear]

Kendra: "An hour later, the battle was still raging."

Celeste: "I AM WATCHING A VIDEO!!!"

Martha: "No, you're not."

Celeste: "YES I AM!!!"

Martha: "I said no!"

[Celeste screams and throws videos out her room]

Martha: "No, you're not having a video. I want you into bed!"

Celeste: "I'M NOT GOING TO BED!!! NO WAY!!!!"

[Celeste stands at the doorway, folding her arms]

Martha: "Get into bed immediately and no dilly-dallying! I am not in the mood for this!!!"

Celeste: "I WANNA BE IMMATURE AND I WANNA DILLY-DALLY REGARDLESS OF WHAT I DO! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!"

Martha: "Well, I hate you back, you little ****!

Kendra: "The bedtime brawl lasted until about midnight."

[Kendra finds Martha sobbing on the living room sofa]

Kendra: "Talk to me, Martha. What's so upsetting about bed time?"

Martha: " "

Kendra: " "

Parent Meeting
Kendra: "Just because you're their mother, what makes you think you'd turn around, and call your children the names that you did?"

Martha: "I just get so angry because they call me names."

Kendra: "So you call them names back?"

Martha: "...."

Kendra: Karen-Marie and Celeste call you a bitch, and you call one of them the S word. It's abuse. And that needs to stop now because it's disgusting."

House Rules
Kendra: "Today, I'm introducing some house rules to the Romo Family."

Homework Area
Kendra: "Karen-Marie really struggles with her homework. So, I've decided that Martha should help Karen-Marie by making homework time fun."

Thinking Pond
Kendra: "Later on, Martha wanted Celeste to sit at the table during dinner. But Celeste wanted to sit in the living room to eat."

Celeste: "I wanna eat in the living room instead."

Martha: "No, Celeste."

Kendra: (to Martha) "I would like you to say to Celeste that she needs to eat at the table otherwise she'll have to go into time out."

Martha: "Celeste Charlotte. I would like you to eat your dinner at the table."

Celeste: (pouting) "But I want to eat in the living room!"

Kendra: "Okay, Martha. Celeste now has to make a decision. She's either going to sit at the table or she isn't."

Kendra: "Celeste remained defiant, so I told Mum to place her on the Thinking Pond."

Kendra: "Don't say anything. Take her straight to the Thinking Pond."

Celeste: (screeching) "I DON'T WANNA GO TO THE THINKING POOOOOOOOOOOND!"

[Martha takes Celeste by the hand and places her on the Thinking Pond]

[Celeste hits Martha's leg]

Martha: "You will be here for 8 minutes."

[Martha and Kendra walk away]

8 minutes later...

Celeste: "I'm done."

Martha: "Are you calm?"

Celeste: "Yeah."

Martha: "I want you to say sorry to your mom."

Celeste: "I'm sorry..."

Martha: "There there."

[Martha and Celeste hug]

Thought Box
Leon: "What's this box for?"