I’m Britain’s meanest nan – I don’t feel bad for making my granddaughters cry, I won’t let them grow up as snowflakes

MOST grandchildren have the ability to twist their grandmothers around their little finger.

But Emma Parsons-Reid, 57, isn’t your typical sweet granny.

Gareth Iwan Jones - Commissioned by The Sun

Emma Parsons-Reid claims to be the country’s ‘meanest gran’[/caption]

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Emma has five granddaughters, who range in age from eight to 17[/caption]

Emma claims to be the country’s “meanest gran”.

She runs her family home like a military operation and never pulls her punches.

When her five granddaughters, who range in age from eight to 17, misbehave Emma has a failsafe way of getting them back in line — a short, sharp blow on her whistle.

She says it takes just one blast and the girls immediately line up, silently, in age order, knowing they’ll face her wrath if they step out of line.

In the past, severe tellings-off have made them all cry. But Emma firmly believes tough love is best.

“I’m very mean at times,” she says.

“People often say I’ve been too harsh. But they’ll face much worse in the real world.

“I don’t want my granddaughters to end up as snowflakes.

“You don’t get anywhere in life by crying the whole time.

“I don’t want them getting upset just because someone has looked at them the wrong way or is not giving them what they want.

“Kids have got to toughen up.”

Retired civil servant Emma, from Cardiff, says while her own grandparents didn’t feature much in her life, her dad was strict.

“I had to use a knife and fork correctly or it was slapped out of my hand,” she says.

“I only spoke when I was spoken to and it did me wonders.

“I pride myself on being consistent. I won’t take any nonsense from anybody.”

Now married, Emma had one daughter and brought her up alone as a single mum.

“It was a lot to juggle and I was quite strict,” she says. “I didn’t have time to faff about.”

Of her life now, she says: “I’m a youngish grandmother.

“I was only 40 when the first granddaughter came along and I’d often be mistaken for her mother.

“I still worked. I wasn’t one of those grannies who would sit and play Scrabble for three days.

“I was too selfish and focused on my own life to stop and play dollies. I had things to do.

I try not to be hurtful but I am very straight-talking and I like discipline and order

Emma Parsons-Reid

“I certainly wasn’t the typical old lady who sat knitting in her rocking chair.”

Emma didn’t like hugging her grandchildren as babies either, saying that she preferred the children once they “could hold a conversation”.

And as Emma aged and went through the menopause, she became even harsher with her family, saying some of the kids asked to stop visiting her.

Around that time she stopped giving them treats and would only reward their best work.

She says: “These days, the kids won’t get pudding if they don’t eat their greens” — and only the best drawings are stuck on her fridge.

“Often I’ll tell them they need to do better if they want me to put it up in my home.

“And they get upset if I throw out their paintings after a week.

“Generally, I don’t encourage them to do much drawing.

“I make them do word searches instead, to improve their vocabulary.”

Emma — Nooney to her granddaughters — says it’s her tough approach that keeps them on the straight and narrow.

“I try not to be hurtful but I am very straight-talking and I like discipline and order,” she says.

“I won’t take any nonsense. I’m sick of all the woke people around me.

“If my grandchildren are rude to me, I won’t speak to them.

“They know now the only way to get me back on side is to word a carefully constructed letter of apology.

“If the spelling and grammar are good and it’s heart-felt, I will forgive them.

“The truth is, I love them dearly and they know I’d do anything for them, but I have made them all cry in turn. Such is life.

“If I make them cry, it’s done with love.

“It’s a tough world out there and I don’t want them to be like deck chairs that fold at the first sign of trouble.”

And Emma believes her grand-parenting style is the best.

She says: “There are more soft grandparents than there are ones like me.

“Sometimes I’ll see another in the supermarket who has lost control and I think to myself, ‘You need a whistle’.

“I could do a class on this — you get dog training, obedience training. I should do grandparent training.

“The kids moan about me but when they are parents, or grand-parents, they will steal my techniques.

Huw Evans

Emma believes her grand-parenting style is the best[/caption]

“I am Britain’s meanest nan but it’s for their own good.

“Lots of my friends are lovely, soft grandmas and the kids say: ‘Why can’t Nooney be like normal grannies who sit in a rocking chair, knitting?’

“There are normal grandmothers and then there’s me.

“But I get results and when I take them out they are very polite.

“They are respectful, they say please and thank you.

“They know how to conduct themselves.

“I don’t have to scream or shout.

“That doesn’t work. I just raise an eyebrow and give them a stare.

“Sometimes they’ll help an old lady who has dropped her bag and I’ll say: ‘Nooney’s proud now.’

“I’m a mean grandma but I’m also proud when they deserve it.”

Emma never buys the kids sweets and won’t spoil them at Christmas.

She contributes to school trips because they are educational but if they want money for anything else they have to earn it.

When they were younger they would wash her car or mow the lawn.

Now they are older, she encourages them to sell their clothes on secondhand fashion app Vinted.

Emma keenly follows their education and has butted in on school parent evenings.

She says: “During Covid, I managed to get the code and sneak into virtual parent evenings.

“My face suddenly popped up next to my daughter and son-in-law.

“I was concerned my granddaughters weren’t getting enough work and were slipping behind.

“I had concerns and won’t apologise for it. If that means I’m interfering, so be it.”

Emma bans most technology when the girls come to stay every month, and enforces strict rules around the older girls’ phone usage.

If they do bring phones then they are certainly not allowed to bring them up to bed,” she says.

‘ROLE MODEL’

“The phones stay downstairs, on ‘Do not disturb’ mode, like mine.

“I send the girls to bed at 9pm. They moan and groan but they sleep so well.

“Often they don’t wake up until 9am. They need to catch up on all the sleep that they’ve missed during the week.

“Sometimes at home they are on their phones until 1am.

“I’ll see they have ‘liked’ something on Instagram or Facebook and I know what time they did it. I go bananas.

“My daughter generally supports my strictness as it did her good as a child.

“Truthfully, I think she appreciates the support as disciplining kids is hard work.

“The oldest is 17 and she understands too, though I still need to pull her up every now and again.

“I probably will even when they are middle-aged to be honest!”

And Emma warns softer grandmas: “You’ve got to look at what you are creating.

“Of course it is nice to spoil your grandchildren but you need to get them ready for the world.

“You owe it to them to make sure they can stand up and not blow over at the first sign of any wind.

“They’ve got to be tough.

“They need to be taught how to communicate and how to be respectful.

“We are the first older people in their lives. If they don’t respect us, they won’t respect anybody.

“A grandparent has to be a role model and if that means being mean, then so be it.”