Marele Family

In this episode, Jo heads off to San Bernardino and visits her biggest family ever. Jimmy (51) and Olivia Marele (46) have thirty-seven foster children, eight biological children, two adopted children and one grandchild. The oldest biological child, Kristen (22) has a son named Bailey (1) with her fiance Adam (24). The other seven biological children are Ricky (20), Joshua (17), Melanie (15), Kaylah (11), Jeremy (9), Chris (8) and Lauren (5). The Marele's two adopted children are Irina (3) from Finland and Noah (2) from South Africa. Irina's English isn't very good. While the four oldest Marele children are well-behaved, Kaylah has major problems with her homework and refuses to do it. Jeremy feels left out because his parents are always busy with the other children. Chris always hits his parents and bites the furniture and Lauren rules the roost by throwing tantrums when things don't go her way. Can Jo help this large family get back on track?

Discipline techniques used: Naughty Pit (Bailey, Noah and Irina), Thinking Pond (Lauren, Chris and Jeremy) and Lose What You Like Chart (Kaylah, Melanie and Joshua).

Other techniques used: Family Time, Homework Area, Learn English, Thought Box (for Jeremy) and Chore Chart.