I spent many hours as a child with my nose in a book, quite often that book was one of the Babysitters Club series by Ann M Martin. Whilst browsing for films on Lovefilm Instant I was amused to come across the film adaption of Babysitters club. Although I am now 20 years too old to be watching the movie which is aimed at kids/ pre-teens I couldn’t resist the trip down memory lane. Having just finished watching the movie I think that was 90 minutes spent! For those of you who are unfamiliar with the BSC series it is about a group of seven 11-13 year olds who decide to respond to the demand for babysitters in the fictional town of Stoneybrook which is set in the state of Conneticut. They form the Babysitter’s Club with Kristy the original founder of it as the President, who leads meets in Claudia’s bedroom. The idea is that parents looking for a babysitter can call and make a booking instantly since they keep a diary detailing availability. Of course as well as loving children and babysitting they are young entrepeuners who charge for their services and seek to cover overheads as well make a profit. Stacey who is gifted at maths was the Club treasuser,
This movie adequately captures the essence of what the BSC was for me. A group of 7 young girls whose main thing in common was the fact they were children and loved babysitting but apart from that they were 7 very distinct individuals. Jesse, was a budding ballet dancer, Mallory was an aspiring writer, Dawn was known as the “health food addict” whilst Claudia despite having amazing skin was the opposite and her room was crammed with chocolates and sweets. Stacey loved shopping and happened to be diabetic and Kristy who was the main protaganist in the movie was a tomboy.
This movie chronicles their attempts to run a successful summer day camp and avoid the wrath of one of the neighbours who did not like to be disturbed by the clarion tones of excited children every day as well as successfully thwarting the efforts of their rival Cokie to sabotage their summer camp.he Running alongside this storyline was Kristy’s attempt to keep a secret from her mum and step dad about her Dad’s arrival. Apart from Mary Ann her best friend, she did not tell any of the BSC members and this caused friction and tension with her family and friends who did not understand why she became so distracted and unreliable and knew they were hiding something from them.
It sent a very important message to children about not telling lies or covering up for anyone even if the person who is putting you in that difficult position is your Dad. We all know that many adults manipulate children into keeping things to themselves which should be revealed by engaging them in “secret keeping” so I felt it was an invaluable lesson for children to learn.
At the end they all came through for Kristy when her well intention but flaky Dad let her down yet again at the end. Seeing her friends surrounding her on her birthday with the cake they had got her, when her Dad had broken his promise to her and was nowhere to be seen was really touching. In a society where things like honesty, true friendship, hardwork and imagination have fallen by the wayside in favour of quick fix success, superficial friendships and lazy thinking I feel a movie like this is just what the younger generation need to see, and be inspired.
I have many fond memories of reading about the adventures of the BSC and it surprises me how much I still remember about each of the characters who were brought to life by Ann M. Martin and other writers. The movie did an excellent job in taking these characters from the pages to our screens and it gave me a huge dose of nostalgia for the 90’s and my childhood!
Nomadic me 