Media of all ages tend to depict meaningful parenting figures. In some cases they are completely absent from the story. In others – like the school stories of Zoey 101 or Ned is releasedwhere the only adults present are teachers – they are only used as obstacles. Or sometimes they are clumsy and incompetent, like iCarly‘S Spencer, the older brother and guardian who accidentally and over and over again lights things. Kid-friendly shows usually put the emphasis on the younger characters, giving them the freedom to do things normal kids can’t, which not only focuses on the intended audience but also offers them escapism and empowerment. Not all shows fall into this trap. But even when child-centered media depicts adults as good and supportive, they are usually designed to help young audiences learn valuable lessons for life.
But in season 2 of the Netflix series The babysitting club, parents are not only present and involved in their children’s lives, they also have their own compelling stories and struggles. It’s refreshing to see that while parents are concerned about their children, they are also concerned about their parents. But while the show’s parents go through their own struggles that worry their children, they never burden their children with idiosyncrasies or burden them with emotional work. It’s a fine balance that adds complexity to the adults without completely making their problems the children’s problem, but the show manages to pull them off.
I’m no longer the target audience for shows like The babysitting club – I’m in my 20s and have no kids to watch the show. But I can’t help but be totally invested in the series’ parent characters. Ann M. Martin’s Netflix adaptation of bestsellers follows a group of middle school students starting their own babysitting business. The babysitting club does a fantastic job depicting the ups and downs of a teenage girl and adjusting the storylines of the books to reflect that time. (For example, the kids sitcom star ballerina Jessi babysits in the books is a TikTok celebrity on the show.)
[Ed. note: This post contains spoilers for The Baby-Sitters Club season 2.]
For example, boyish club president Kristy worries when she learns that her mother Liz (Alicia Silverstone) and stepfather Watson (Mark Feuerstein) are caring for a baby – not because they don’t want a new sibling, but because they are worried makes her not want to tell her because of her initially aloof attitude towards her stepfamily.
It turns out that Liz is worried about setting Kristy’s expectations too high, knowing that having a baby is not easy at her stage in life. In the next few episodes, Liz struggles with fertility treatments, even though Kristy doesn’t know the details. She mentions her mother’s Desire for chocolate
Kristy eventually finds her mother sobbing in the bathroom to hide the pressures she’s trying to get pregnant and the emotions caused by a hurricane of hormones. Kristy offers her mother to listen to her mother when she wants to talk, but Liz says that while she knows Kristy is listening, it is not a child’s burden. Liz realizes that she should talk to her husband about what she’s going through instead. When this discussion takes place, it stays off screen, but that’s a good thing. It is an act of emotional maturity for Liz to understand that her teenage daughter should not be her emotional support. Kristy, who used to get annoyed with the idea of her stepfamily, is now open and encouraging about the idea, but more importantly, Liz realizes that her problems are something she needs to discuss with another adult.
The babysitting club is characterized by the fact that it gives the parents compelling struggles and inner workings while Even still make them damn good parents. We know that Mary Anne in charge has a father (Marc Evan Jackson) struggling with anxiety – last season he resigned himself to growing up Mary Anne and moving on after losing his wife. In season 2, he goes to therapy and tries to implement those lessons in real life.
When he talks to Mary Anne about her first date, he has note cards with prepackaged lines of support and encouragement to make the experience less daunting for him. But most touchingly, he does his best to bond with Mary Anne’s girlfriend – and his girlfriend’s daughter – Dawn, who takes the opposite approach to dealing with big emotions and insists that everything is fine when people get in touch with their personal ones Pushing boundaries. While Dawn initially rejects his attempts to bond, he comes to her with an adult coloring book and talks about how speaking out about his fears helps neutralize her, and she realizes he’s right.
The babysitting club was made for kids, but it has the kind of depth and nuance that other shows have made for all ages like Steven Universe and Adventure time also attractive for adults. The babysitting club is a realistic live action show rather than an animated fantasy like these other series, but that makes it especially engaging. The stories are still seen through the children’s eyes, but when the adults feel less like standard characters and more like real three-dimensional people, the reality of the show becomes more vivid and she is able to tackle more complicated storylines while she is still old is appropriate.
Not only does this make the show more appealing to an older audience, it also humanizes the adult characters to the actual intended audience – these adults don’t get in the way of authority figures, silly gags, or props set up to give advice for life. They go through complicated stories just like their children, which teaches younger audiences that parents are also people who struggle with great emotions.
Season 2 of The babysitting club is available on Netflix.