Babysitter: An American History

by Miriam Forman-Brunell

On Friday nights many parents want to have a little fun together—without the kids. But “getting a sitter”—especially a dependable one—rarely seems trouble-free. Will the kids be safe with “that girl”? It’s a question that discomfited parents have been asking ever since the emergence of the modern American teenage girl nearly a century ago. In Babysitter, Miriam Forman-Brunell brings critical attention to the ubiquitous, yet long-overlooked babysitter in the popular imagination and American history.Informed by her research on the history of teenage girls’ culture, Forman-Brunell analyzes the babysitter, who has embodied adults’ fundamental apprehensions about girls’ pursuit of autonomy and empowerment. In fact, the grievances go both ways, as girls have been distressed by unsatisfactory working conditions. In her quest to gain a fuller picture of this largely unexamined cultural phenomenon, Forman-Brunell analyzes a wealth of diverse sources, such as The Baby-sitter’s Club book series, horror movies like The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, urban legends, magazines, newspapers, television shows, pornography, and more.Forman-Brunell shows that beyond the mundane, understandable apprehensions stirred by hiring a caretaker to “mind the children” in one’s own home, babysitters became lightning rods for society’s larger fears about gender and generational change. In the end, experts’ efforts to tame teenage girls with training courses, handbooks, and other texts failed to prevent generations from turning their backs on babysitting.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, American History

330 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 15, 2009

Reviews

[Eliana Lazzara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched, decently written. Best used for reference rather than reading all the way through.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been waiting for this book, so I was glad to finally have the opportunity to read it. Interesting discussion of images of babysitters in relation to actual babysitting, and I especially appreciated how Forman-Brunell detached the work involved in babysitting from maternal instincts (though a more in-depth focus on that tension would have been interesting, especially given the historiographical influence of May's arguments for postWW2 domestic and sexual containment). The discussions of alternative babysitters (adult women, boys) were fascinating, too.... not too much about race, though, and some discussion of segregation and "mammies" in the South would have been interesting.

Now I'm curious about how the children being sat for felt about their babsitters and about being babysat... especially baby-boomer girls who would have been sat for and then possibly become sitters themselves... and then perhaps mothers themselves.

Kind of a strange mix though -- scholarly book aiming at a popular audience, not sure it hit either mark. Possibly trying to cover such a long time period watered it down a little, but then it's an awfully rich topic, and the book does work as a starting point.

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brb taking up a sword for the teen girls who were trying to earn a little money (read: freedom) by babysitting while being underpaid, condescended to, lied to about their working conditions, hit on by adults who knew better, and/or stranded somewhere in suburbia in pre-interstate highway system America because their employers (parents!) were too drunk to actually give them the ride home they’d been promised at the end of their shift. Care labor is labor!

And you know what, while i’m at it: justice for the Babysitters Club, a union in all but its name. I really disagree w the author’s take on the BSC — for many, reading the series was a radicalizing experience, not the “shut up and practice domesticity” tranquilizer she describes. Aside from that reductive aspect, I recommend this book constantly.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited to read this and sort of let down. A little too boring. Interesting theories on teen girl culture (something that always fascinates me), but presented in a very structured way. There were times when I felt like I was reading someone's (very researched) high school essay.

[Becky · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was very excited to read this book, but having started it, I must say I am disappointed. It is quite boring. Someone else said it was like reading a research paper and I agree. I have to put it down and move on...

[mrcurly Mrcurly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best babysitting book i've read!