Okay, I read to Ally.
Thanks for putting her to bed for me, Ray.
It's been a really long day.
I read her Rapunzel.
Good for you.
Yeah? I don't know.
Kidding around, I said, "If you live in a tower
"and there's no shampoo
"and your hair gets long enough to climb on
it might get... disgusting."
Yeah.
So Ally wants a haircut.
We'll get her a haircut.
Now.
Ray, don't tell me, I have to go--
'I'm ready, Mommy.'
I gave her a dollar to tip you with.
Act surprised.
Hi, I'm Ray, and I live here in Long Island with my wife, Debra
my six-year-old daughter and twin two-year old boys.
My parents...
...live across the street.
That's right.
And my brother lives with them.
Now, not every family would defy gravity for you
but mine would because--
Everybody loves Raymond.
Hey, you didn't...
Okay, Ally. Daddy's going to be home any minute with dinner
so let's clean up.
Sweetie, why don't you take all your dolls off the table
and wash your hands, okay?
'Grandma, look.'
Ally, please clean up.
Oh. Isn't that nice?
What's this one, a streetwalker?
No, she's an aerobics instructor, Marie.
She's dressed for the gym. Ally. Can you look at me?
Are you having trouble listening?
Come on.
This is from Nemo's, so let's get to it
before it eats through the bag.
Help Ally get ready for dinner, please.
And can you get rid of them?
- Hey, guys. - Daddy's home.
- Time to go home now. - Hey. I'm watching the game.
I think they're beaming it into your house, too, Dad.
Dad's taping Channel 5 over there.
Five? Why? What's on 5?
He wants to catch that commercial
for the chicken restaurant.
The one where it's so good
the chicken goes there to eat it?
- I'm dying to see it. - Ray, please.
We're all dying here.
We're eating, man. Come on, go.
Ally, don't make me keep asking you, sweetie.
'Get the toys picked up and your hands washed.'
Hey. Look, there it is.
'May I take your order?'
Dad, did I tell you? It's a killer.
You didn't lie.
Ally, I'm done asking you. I want the toys picked up now.
No!
If you don't do what I'm telling you right now
you can forget about dessert.
Ooh. No dessert.
I don't want any stupid dessert.
- Oh, my. - Sure you do.
Ray, I can't take this anymore. Could you handle it, please?
I got it. Alright.
Ally, wash your hands and do what...
- Don't make Mommy mad. - No.
Look, you have to do what Mommy says.
- Why? - 'Cause I do.
Grandma's got some candy for a girl who cleans up.
- No candy, Mom. Come on. - Come on, come on.
Mom, you don't pay her upfront.
Just watch. Alright, now, honey, clean up, sweetheart.
No.
Candy always worked.
I don't know what Debra's done to this child.
Look, just let me handle it, alright?
Ally. I'm gonna give you to the count of three.
If you don't start picking up your toys, no TV for a week.
- Geez. - Whoa, whoa.
One.
Two.
I'm not kidding. One, two...
This is it.
Two-and-a-half.
Two-and-three-quarters.
Let me tell you something, Ally. I don't know any more fractions.
Three. That's all. No TV for a week.
No!
What happened?
I handled it, alright? Everything worked out.
'I hate you!'
Okay, folks, let's keep it moving. Show's over.
Nothing more to see here. Come on. Let's go.
What's wrong with you?
How can you yell at your child in front of other people?
Don't you know how humiliating that can be?
I hate you.
Hey, lucky pants.
Thank you very much, Ray.
You're welcome.
What did I do?
You know, I haven't had a minute to myself all day.
When you take TV away from Ally, you're punishing me, too.
How?
You know what my day was like?
It went something like this, "I wanna watch TV."
"No."
- "I wanna watch TV." - "No."
Lunch.
- "I wanna watch TV." - "No."
"Hey, lucky pants."
That's me. That's where I came in.
What are you gonna do for me next, Ray?
Take away her nap time?
When a kid misbehaves, you take away something
that's important to her.
What would you have done?
Honestly, I have no idea.
Then I think we shouldn't dump on the people who have ideas.
Okay, here's an idea, then.
"Parent Effectiveness Training.
Coping with your child's behavioral challenges."
Where did you get this?
They were sticking them on the windshield at Chuck E. Cheese's.
Come on. Look, we don't need classes. We're great parents.
Alright, you're a great parent, and I'm your lovely assistant.
I don't feel like a great parent.
Great parents don't find themselves
in the supermarket going
"We don't throw plums."
I need a class.
- We need a class. - A parenting class?
That's supposed to come natural.
That would be like taking a smelling class.
So you have nothing to learn here?
Come on.
My mom and dad never took a parenting class.
I'm signing them up for this.
So if you've ruled out any medical problem
and your child is still wetting the bed
he may be trying to tell you something.
He's telling you, "I have to pee."
I think we're gonna wrap it up for tonight
'but before we do, are there any other questions?'
- 'Yes, Debra.' - Yeah. Um...
We have a six-year-old daughter, and she's a great kid
but she's been having trouble listening
and she's been very stubborn lately.
- That's every kid. - It's not
It's just a phase, right?
This is a perfect opportunity for you
to try some active listening.
- Thank you. We'll try that. - Wait a second.
Active listening? I'm not familiar with that.
It's encouraging your child to express herself verbally
without influencing her with your own
preconceived notions or opinions.
Got it. Here we go.
Why don't we try to illustrate this
with a little role-playing?
- Let's have you. Ray, is it? - No.
Yeah.
Why don't you come to the front of the class?
Why don't you go? Why don't you go, Deb?
You'll be fine. Don't be shy.
Now wait. Let's just say that I'm your daughter
and I refuse to go to visit Grandma on her birthday.
In this case, I happen to know Grandma
and I can't say I blame you.
Just hypothetically, Ray, alright? Focus.
Let's just say, Ray, that you want to get
from your daughter what she's feeling.
Go ahead.
Do it.
Okay, daughter.
You have to go to Grandma's house.
I'm not going.
You have to go. It's her birthday.
I hate when you make me do things!
I'm not making you go, okay? It's Grandma's birthday.
There aren't gonna be many more of them.
I'm gonna stop you just for a second, Ray. Um...
You see, I don't think at this point
we need to discuss Grandma's mortality.
What are you doing, Ray?
- I'm playing the game. - It's not a game.
It's okay. It's okay.
If I say to you, "I hate when you make me do things"
perhaps you could acknowledge
my feelings by saying something like
"You feel you don't have any control over our plans."
'You understand?'
That doesn't sound like something I would say.
Just takes a little practice. Come on. Let's keep going.
Yeah, let's, let's...
All my friends are going to the park, but I have to go
to some boring party?
You think that the party's gonna be boring?
That's it, Ray.
See, you're reflecting her feelings back. Yes.
It's just a bunch of grownups sitting around an old house.
I want to be with my friends!
But Grandma has that big bowl of Coffee Nips.
I don't care, and you can't make me.
- What are you doing? - I'm not going.
- Please get up. - Why do I have to go?
- I don't know. - But why?
Because I said so!
That was big when I was a kid.
- Mommy said you gotta go. - Leave Mommy out of it.
Thank you.
- You better get up or-- - Or what?
- Or no more TV. - No, Ray.
Okay. Or you're going to boarding school.
- Do you always threaten? - No.
- No, sometimes she yells. - Ray.
I'm sorry. We've run out of time. Thank you all for coming.
I'll see you next week.
Ray and Debra, I'd like you to stay after class, please.
- I think we need to talk. - Nice going.
- What, my fault? - You raised your hand.
Chicken.
- What are you doing? - We've got homework to do.
No. No. I'm not doing any stinking homework.
You are the reason we got the homework.
You're the brownnose that had to ask a question.
I'm trying to learn here, Ray.
Am I supposed to do these exercises by myself?
Can you?
- No. You gotta do them with me. - Come on.
Look, this time, you be the kid.
- It'll be less of a stretch. - Okay.
You think you can take me on?
Okay, here. This is perfect.
You're 12 years old, and you refuse to shovel the snow
off the driveway.
Uh...
Could you please shovel the driveway?
No.
Okay, I understand, because shoveling the snow can be hard.
Yes, so why are you asking?
Because you're a member of this family and we help each other.
Yeah. Tough noogies.
- Alright, time-out. - What?
Time-out!
Are you being Ray, the little kid or Ray, the big ass?
I'd like to be both.
- Can we just do the exercise? - Go ahead.
Um...
Okay, I know that you feel that making you shovel is unfair.
Yes. I have to shovel the snow, I have to take out the garbage
I have to load the dishwasher, while you're up in bed
not sleeping with Daddy.
Well, we all have chores we don't like to do.
But in the future, little Ray
if you feel that you have too much to do, you just tell me
and I'll try to make things more even.
So how about that driveway?
I'm too tired right now. I win.
Ray, this isn't about winning or losing.
Oh. You know who always says that? The loser.
I am just trying to do this active listening stuff
and you are not playing right.
You're gonna say that to your kid?
It's obvious you're trying to screw it up.
- Well, I'm a real little kid. - Yes, you are, and no TV.
- Ah-ha. See? - Come on.
- No TV. That's all. - Yes.
See, you couldn't do it, either.
Yes, you are right. You are right
I just stink at the whole thing.
Come on. It'll be okay.
Come on.
I'll shovel the snow.
It's not that. It's just that
when we got home tonight, I tried this stuff on Ally
and it didn't work on her
and it's not working on you, either.
It's just not working.
Come on. Don't worry. It'll be okay.
It's alright.
I'm flunking the class, Ray!
You're flunking?
Listen, don't worry about the class.
I told you we didn't need a class.
The answer to how to stop plum throwing is not in a workbook.
This is a seat-of-the-pants operation here.
What are we gonna do? How are we gonna get Ally to behave?
The crying is pretty good.
- Hey. - Ray, get in on some of this.
What's she doing, just laying out a buffet now?
This is supposed to be for the week.
You'll cook some more.
Oh? Go ahead, honey. You look hungry.
- I'll heat up the ziti. - When you were baby-sitting...
Did you change the twins' pajamas?
Yeah. They're over here.
I wanted to treat some of those old spots.
We have a washing machine, Ma.
Yeah, I know, but stubborn stains need special care.
Maybe you can take a class on that.
I gotta go to grandparenting class at 3:00.
Today we're learning "got your nose" and "pull my finger."
Make sure you don't miss the seminar on moving to Florida.
Ma, get me the pajamas, please. And the ziti.
Frank, what the hell is this?
I'm not ready for ice cream yet.
This is our tax refund check.
It was stuck to the bottom of the ice cream.
You've been on my back for a month
telling me that I lost it.
I'm not the one who eats ice cream in this house.
- You eat ice cream. - Tofutti. I eat Tofutti.
You tell your friends you eat Tofutti
but then you eat my ice cream.
Take a look at the Tofutti.
There's not a dent in the Tofutti.
If I do eat ice cream, and I'm not saying that I do
I put it in a bowl like a person, not on the table
where it gets stuck to an important check
that somebody accuses me of losing.
In class, we were just doing this.
Why can't you just admit this is your fault?
Because I don't lose things.
- I'm organized. - Not organized. Insane.
She's got a shoebox labeled
"Pieces of string too small to use."
That I should tie together into a noose.
I got a beam all picked out!
Yeah, I got a step stool for you.
Wait. Just listen here for a second. Wait.
So, Dad, you think Mom's being unfair?
That's right. It's always my fault
when she can't find something.
Because I work like a dog to keep this place straight
and he messes it up with all his projects.
Ice cream's a project?
You think Dad's being inconsiderate.
Have you met your father?
What about your consideration? Do I ever get any thanks
for all the stuff I do around here?
Like what? What is it you do?
- Didn't I fix the thing? - That's true, Ma. He did.
So Dad's feeling unappreciated.
- That's right. - Come on.
I don't appreciate you?
How do I know?
Yeah, evidently, Dad isn't hearing "thank you."
He wants "thank you"?
This isn't "thank you"?
I guess Mom's saying, "Actions speak louder than words."
That's very good.
But sometimes we need to hear the words.
- Yeah. I need words. - And I don't need words?
I'm sorry the check got stuck to the Chubby Hubby.
You never said that before.
No one's ever said that before.
- I appreciate you. - Thanks.
Holy crap. It works.
- The pot roast's ready. - Great.
I love your mother's pot roast.
Oh. I'm gonna get an "A" here.
Careful, it's hot.
Mm-mm.
How is it, chi-chi?
Chi-chi like.
What did you do?
Debbie, you're not gonna believe this.
Why did you do this, Ally?
- This is terrible. - Great.
This is Michael's giraffe. He's crying.
Now why did you do this?
- 'Cause. - "'Cause" is not an answer.
- Active listening. - Ray, that doesn't work.
It works. I just used it on the worst kids in the neighborhood.
Would you... Look at this. Look what she did.
Try it. Try it.
- No, Ray! - Okay, you want me to do it?
No, no, no, I'll do it.
Okay. Ally, let's talk about what you did.
I don't wanna talk.
- Are you feeling angry? - Reflect back.
- You're angry? - Yes.
Okay, but it's not okay to rip up toys when we're angry.
Ah-ah. Judgmental.
You are angry because...
Because it used to be your toy.
- Yes. - Huh.
I don't like Michael and Geoffrey.
I see. I see.
You think that Mommy and Daddy
pay too much attention to Michael and Geoffrey.
Ray. Okay, I was handling this.
- They get everything. - Right, and you're upset.
Because we gave them your old giraffe.
I still liked it.
But you weren't playing with it.
That doesn't matter, though
because it was still yours, and you're mad
because we gave it to Michael without asking you, right?
Right.
Well...
Mommy and Daddy made a mistake, and everybody makes mistakes.
- Right, Mommy? - Yes. Yes, yes.
- You feel better now, Ally? - Yes. Can I have the giraffe?
- Well, it's broken, honey. - I know.
I want to try to fix it for Michael.
Oh-ho.
- Here, sweetie. - Thank you, Daddy.
- See how I did that? - Yeah. Can't believe it.
It's pretty amazing. You did it.
Anything else need taken care of while I'm around here?
- No. - What? What's the matter?
Nothing with you, obviously.
Don't go by me. I'm a natural.
- Don't worry. You'll get it. - Oh. Yuck.
Oh. Don't act so proud of yourself.
If I hadn't dragged you to that stupid class
you'd still be standing there going, "Hey. No TV."
You're feeling inadequate 'cause I mastered it before you.
Don't give me that active listening crap.
Where do you get off listening to me?
Never happen again.
It's chickens eating chickens. That's why it's funny.
I...
- You got any Kleenex? - Don't give him any.
We got five boxes open over there.
They're all halfway down.
The tissues don't pop up anymore.
You reach in, your hand gets stuck in the box.
'Your hand gets stuck in the box'
because you shove it in like an animal.
Watch this. So, Ma, you think Dad's being wasteful
and Dad, you think Mom's being unreasonable.
And a nag.
A nag?
You bitter, miserable man.
Why do you think that is? Why do you think that is, Marie?
- I'm sleeping here tonight. - Good!
Nice job, Professor.
No TV.