What I learned from the Baby-Sitters Club about setting up childcare

And how I'm organizing my own BSC

Of the 278 episodes of The SSR Podcast that I’ve produced to date, a not insignificant number have been about a little series called The Baby-Sitters Club.

Knowing this, you might assume that I have a particular personal affinity for Ann M. Martin’s crew of entrepreneurial childcare providers—or, at the very least, that I was a superfan of them when I was a young reader myself. Here’s a fun (and brief) fact, though: I wasn’t! It just so happens that these books are super rich territory for discussion and that many of my guests have meaningful memories of them from their tween years. Also, it’s a staple of pop culture nostalgia, which basically makes it candy for my podcast.

As you might expect, getting acquainted with Stoneybrook’s finest sitters as an adult has been an interesting experience—one that has grown even more interesting as I’ve sought childcare for Will over the last few weeks.

Recently, Matt and I decided to make a bit of a pivot in our plan for Will. The details aren’t important, but suffice it to say that we found ourselves in a bit of a jam without a ton of time to figure out alternatives. Matt decided to delay the final two weeks of his paternity leave (a luxury, I know!) until this month, but with him going back to the office and me feeling fully tapped out on parenting full time and working as close to full time as possible, we needed a new arrangement and we needed it fast.

CIRCLING BACK: what Matt going back to the office means—and what it doesn't

A few caveats I’d like to acknowledge:

CAVEAT 1: It is an incredible privilege that I continue to be able to work from home and that the nature of my work has allowed us the flexibility to wait this long to secure childcare arrangements.

CAVEAT 2: I’m also lucky to have family members nearby who I know would be more than willing to jump in to help fill any gaps. While we welcome any and all family members who want to hang out with Will on a regular (and frequent!) basis, Matt and I have decided not to rely on loved ones for any ~official~ childcare. We know that works for so many people—and that’s great!—but it doesn’t feel like the right dynamic for us. And we recognize that this means there will be some additional hoops for us to jump through.

Okay. Back to business.

I decided to take to an unexpected (for me) forum for problem solving: Facebook.

I’d heard that Facebook is kind of a hot spot for mom communities, but I could not have predicted just how happenin’ it would be in the several local groups I joined.

Hi, it's me, making mom friends.

Our plan is to send Will to a daycare/preschool program starting next summer and to revisit the idea of a more permanent part-time nanny plan in the fall. In the meantime, I decided that I was really excited about the idea of finding a group of college students to support our family for the time being. There are so many qualified folks home for the summer looking for work—and having grown up with sitters in this age group (on both sides of my family!) that I absolutely loved, it felt like the natural fit. Sure, it will be challenging to go back to the drawing board as our new friends return to their respective campuses in August and September, but for now, I couldn’t be happier that I decided to go with my gut and choose this route. For a lot of reasons, it’s the best option for our family.

As I started the process of reaching out to and interviewing the sitters I found on Facebook, I obviously looked to the rest of the internet for tips on how to find someone who knew their stuff and would be comfortable in our home. Yes, I turned to those resources, but I also looked to the true mecca of childcare knowledge: Kristy, Claudia, Dawn, Stacey, Mary-Anne, Jessi, and Mallory. (Associate members like Logan are clearly of no use to me.)

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Currently Reading: Such a Bad Influence by Olivia Muenter

I’m torn between being bummed that it’s taking me so long to read this book because I wish I had more time to devour it and being happy that I’ve had limited time over the last few days because I’m glad to stretch out my experience with it. I don’t usually go for thrillers, but I’m happy to add this to the very short list of titles in the genre that I’ve loved.

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Here’s the thing: if I had any doubt that young people looking at babysitting as a side hustle could be qualified, I wasn’t giving the BSC their due. And while these are fictional characters and I wouldn’t leave my infant with an eleven-year-old at this stage (sorry, Mallory and Jessi), Stoneybrook’s coolest entrepreneurs are a reminder that a love and care for children don’t come with some sort of an age minimum and that there’s something to be said for youthful enthusiasm.

(P.S. JUSTICE FOR THE NETFLIX BSC ADAPTATION! Bring these gals back.)

Ann M. Martin didn’t invent the concept of a babysitting teen. She saw it as a pattern in the world and celebrated it with a book series that has now sold more than 180 million copies (!!!!!). I’m hardly taking parenting cues from a crew of earnest fictional tweens—no matter how responsible they are—but between what I’ve learned from the BSC and my own childhood experiences under the charge of college-aged sitters, I guess it should hardly come as a surprise to me that I felt a massive sigh of relief when I realized the direction my gut was leading me as I made some final childcare decisions recently.

Here are a few more important lessons I’ve learned from the Baby-Sitters Club, individually and as a group…

True scholars of the BSC know that the Stoneybrook cinematic universe eventually grows to include many, many tweens, but for the purposes of this piece, let’s focus on the core club members: Kristy, Claudia, Mary-Anne, Dawn, Stacey, Jessi, and Mallory.